Role Models: The Unsuspecting Hero America Needs

1523 Words7 Pages
America is in need of role models in this day and age. A role model, unlike a hero, can give a young generation of Americans a realistic figure to look up to. A role model usually consists of a closer and more personal relationship that allows the person with the role model to feel more connected to a role model opposed to a hero. America is in need of role models, whom Jenny Lyn Bader stresses, not heroes, for a young generation that is starving for realistic, positive influences in their lives that are consistently challenging them to become better, more successful Americans. Bader explains how there are different aspects that make up heroes. Heroes have bravery, imaginations, they battle for what they believe in, and they triumph over obstacles (784). Bader gives the reader examples of heroes who possess these qualities. Nelson Mandela represents bravery, Shakespeare with his imagination, Martin Luther King, Jr. battled for what he believed in, and Moses triumphed over his speech problem (784). These qualities turned ordinary people into what society considers heroes. It is not just possessing one of these qualities that makes somebody into a hero; it is how these qualities are used that defines a hero. Shakespeare could have had a great imagination and had done nothing with it, causing him to not be remembered. Instead, Shakespeare had a vast imagination that he used to create plays that are still read and studied today. By applying his imagination, he was able to go down in history as one of the greatest writers in history and, to many, a hero. Bader also explains that heroes are likely to go through enormous amounts of anguish. They also usually are very revolutionary, and they have original ideas. In the end, they are usually killed (785). Martin Luther King, Jr. fits all of these categories. In the 1950’s and 1960’s many white Americans,
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