Risking Your Life for Another by John Quinones - Essay Example

Writing Assignments “Risking Your Life for Another” by John Quinones Even though I’ve never saved anyone being in such a huge disaster as Jeremy Hernandez happened to be, still his actions and the fact that he saved all those children can certainly be called heroic. I once read an article where a fireman was talking about his job in such an ordinary manner that it seemed like for him saving people wasn’t a big deal, thus I think Jeremy felt the same way in the bus situation, because his highest priority was to save those kids but not to make something to be later proud of. This makes the actions of the both heroes truly heroic, as there were no arrogant intentions behind them, but simple kindness and thoughtfulness. The passages 34-38 (Quinones 460) prove the fact that Jeremy had no intention to make himself a hero, he was truly worried about the kids and did his best to save them. The same intentions I noticed in the interview with that fireman I read years ago and this was really surprising for me, because usually when people do something good they want others to see their good actions and evaluate the person who does something moral as a virtuous kind of personality. However, the fireman from that article was extremely unpretentious telling the stories about all those people he had saved like it was his routine working responsibilities. Thus he claimed that it was just his job, like if it was something equal in its value to what people do in offices or something like that. The fireman wasn’t thinking of being a hero, he was just doing his job, as well as Jeremy was doing what he knew he had to do, so he wasn’t even considering any other options except helping those kids. I’m pretty sure that in that moment he wasn’t even thinking “I have to save the kids”, he was just doing it without thinking, as his actions were absolutely automatic. Hence, it is possible to say that the actions of both the fireman and John were truly heroic, as there wasn’t the intention to become a hero in none of them, because real heroism is essentially simply kind and thoughtful. “My Right Hand” by Michael Weiskopf The Michaej’s Weiskopf story about him losing his hand and saving the three other people in fact reveals an interesting definition of heroism as a “quick response to a changing environment” (Weiskopf, 467). Probably, the story indeed proves the thesis, however, the story of another journalist, Robert Cox, demonstrates the kind of journalistic heroism that is not engaged with self-preservation instinct but the one based on sacrifice of one’s own life for the sake of justice and truth. Robert Cox was editor of the English-language Buenos Aires Gerald in 1976 when a military junta imposed strict press censorship while killing approximately 30,000 young people in secret death camps. The mothers of the dead youth wished their stories to be revealed, but none of the journalists wanted to tell the stories, as they were too afraid of being repressed by the military government. However, Robert Cox decided to post their stories in order to show the world what terrible things were going on in the country. Even though Cox was just doing his job, acting like a real journalist and the speaker of truth was supposed to act, his actions appeared to be truly heroic under those circumstances. Later he and his family were threatened to be killed, so Cox was forced to leave the country, still he had managed to reveal the truth to the world and fought for real justice. This story of real journalist heroism certainly differs from the Weiskopf’s story. Despite not being injured like Weiskopf, Cox still was a hero, as he also didn’t have any heroic intentions; he was just carrying out his journalist duty, revealing the truth and knowing that it could have threatened him and his family. These two heroisms are probably incomparable, because while Weiskopf lost his hand for his own sake, acting automatically, Cox knew that his actions could have led to terrible consequences, although he did what he did for some higher purposes; and when he was doing it, he wasn’t thinking of his own safety but fought for other people and their lives. “Hero Inflation” by Nicholas Thompson The claims concerning the concept of heroism presented in Thompson’s essay seem definitely truthful to me, as they precisely explain why victimization and heroism are two totally different things and how victimization devaluates the meaning of heroism. Thompson starts his essay with description of what people have always considered heroism to be and what attributes it has; thus such features as bravery and nobility have always been those initial features of a hero that actually discerned a heroic person from an ordinary one (Thompson, 479). However, Thompson claims that the fact that the victims of the 11th of September were honored as heroes destroys the entire paradigm of heroism, so people start perceiving the victims-heroes as the role models of heroism. However, in fact, as Thompson claims “the most of the other people who died in the attacks were simply victims, much like the tens of thousands of innocent people killed in home fires, or on highways, every year” (Thompson, 480). The mere statement of this fact reveals how absurd the idea to turn victims into heroes is, as this actually means that dying makes a person heroic; hence, all people should be called heroes, as once they all will die and most of them will probably suffer in some way, however, we wouldn’t call it heroism. Then what justifies turning victims into heroes in our minds? This is what Thompson hasn’t explained in his essay. He just said that the “hero inflation” allows America to create new heroes, who “helped the nation recover and pull together” (Thompson 480). Even though heroism indeed may produce such hilling effect on the entire nations, still glorification of victims changes the entire concept of heroism, which is more dangerous than lack of heroes in the country. The point is that once we glorify victims, it will be difficult for us to get back to that Ancient Greek type of hero, brave and noble; moreover, every victim of anything will have to be called a hero. Thus Thompson’s claims concerning wrong understanding of heroism seem absolutely reasonable to me. “Ferguson” by Michael Norman The story retold by Michael Norman about one of his war comrades, whom he knew only for a couple of minutes is definitely touching not only because it concerns war and meaningless deaths but also because it is quite universal in its essence (Norman, 469-471). I, as probably all people, also have this kind of person whom I knew for not a long period of time but who affected me a lot. This person was a teacher who replaced our regular math teacher at school for only one lesson. I wouldn’t say I knew her, because we didn’t even were acquainted with each other and I don’t remember her name, but I remember what she taught me about this life. She was an invalid person and, taking into consideration her attitude to this life, I would say she was a real hero. Despite having an untreatable disease, she was extremely positive about her life. When she was talking, she was deeply inspired by her job and aim to serve people sharing the knowledge she had with children. I was wondering what had made her so positive, as her life was filled with pain and constant treatment, still I understood from the first sight that she was the kind of personality who had never gave up on per live and wanted to take everything she could. The meeting with that teacher was life-changing for me, as I realized that no matter what, I should never forget how blessed I am and how many wonderful things I have in my life. That person will always be a hero for me, but not the kind of hero who saves people from disasters and not because she was a victim of the circumstances of her life. The point is that I truly admire her aspiration to work and serve other people and her willingness to keep living in spite of all the difficulties. Her example shows me what real heroism is and I think I was lucky to meet her in my life. “I Am Not a Role Model” by Charles Barkley Unfortunately, a lot of nowadays young people are enormously affected by different kinds of celebrities, who they try to copy as their role models and whose opinion they trust whatsoever. The problem stated by Charles Barkley in his essay is definitely relevant, because modern kids indeed consider celebrities as their idols, who inspire them for their lives, even though in fact their images are absolutely delusional and they don’t provide kids with better understanding of how the things in this life work. The example of black kids who only think about athletic career, described by Barkley (p.502), definitely concerns not only black kids but modern children in general. This is the matter of public opinion that shapes this perception of celebrities as role models for modern kids, as they believe that the images celebrities have in media represent who these people really are. However, it frequently happens that the images are just masks, which means that children perceive some delusional role models and consider them as truth. Moreover, it turns out that the fact that celebrities inspire children and they depend on their opinion concerning multiple matters shows the tendency of degradation among children, who make celebrities authoritative, even though most of them might not be experts in anything. Hence, for instance, a kid’s believing in what an actor thinks on the matter of politics proves the statement. However, the worst thing about it is that the delusional role models are just images, which cannot provide kids with any deeper understanding of this life. As Barkley claims, he is not a role model, but he can become one for his daughter or some other kids he actually has some contact with (p. 503). This is because he is able to communicate with those children and share his own life experience with them, which, in this case, justifies him being a role model for these kids; although just in case that they themselves choose him as their role model according to his personal features and achievements but not because he is a celebrity. Thus children should not choose celebrities as their role models, but they should follow the examples and rely on those people they personally know are successful in their lives. Read More