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The Means Of Heroism In The Boatlift By Vincent Ardillo

Decent Essays

As Novalis, a famous German poet and philosopher once stated, “A hero is one who knows how to hang on one minute longer.” A hero does not show worry, but pushes through and can be courageous for only a little while longer than everyone else. Because heroes are people who put others before themselves, they must go above and beyond and not worry about their own safety. Heroes are selfless and put others before themselves in dangerous situations. Such as on 9/11, when a call was given out for boats to come rescue people off the island of Manhattan, where the terror attacks happened, as pictured in “Boatlift” Vincent Ardillo after hearing the news told his wife, “I gotta do something.” This represents heroism because Ardillo is not thinking of how he will be impacted, but rather of the people who need help, as many other people with access to a boat did as well. Also, Ardillo could have stayed home and been safe, but chose to sacrifice his well being and comfort for others. Another hero would be Clara Barton, the founder of the Red Cross, as Barton declared in a Civil War speech “I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them.” Barton distinguishes she could be hurt while helping the soldiers, however she does not dwell on the fact, deciding instead to carry on and make a difference despite the threat to health. This is heroic because Barton is putting others who cannot care for themselves and acknowledges she could be hurt, but does not let that get in the way of her reaching her goals. To sum up, heroes are everyday people who go out of their way to help others in need without the thought of payment. To continue Heroes constantly go above and beyond the call of duty and always persist. In the same manner, the book, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, written by Frederick Douglass, Douglass is at a convention on the rights of African Americans, when a colleague urges him to speak, to which he remarks, “The truth was, I felt myself a slave, and the idea of speaking to white people weighed me down. I spoke but a few moments.”(SB 72) This excerpt shows how Douglass is able to conquer his

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