Journal Entry 29: Heroes Revisited

Last quarter you wrote several journal entries about heroes. Now you have a more concrete reason for thinking about the definition of what a hero is: your Outsiders essay. For this journal entry, find at least two dictionary definitions of a hero and copy them into your journal (make sure to tell which dictionaries you got them from). How are they different? How are they alike? Do you prefer one over the other? Is there anything you would add to the dictionary definitions? Anything you would take away? What would you add or subtract and why? Note: do not count the copied definitions as part of your 200-word limit.

"a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act, is regarded as a model or ideal, or a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities or one who shows great courage" - Merriam Webster

"A person with courage, honesty, bravery, selflessness, and the will to try. The definition of heroism changes with the context and time. Heroes of the past are not necessarily heroes of present time and vise versa." - Dictionary.com

The meanings from Dictionary.com and Merriam Webster are both very similar, but I think Dictionary.com's definition is better than Merriam Webster's, because the meaning of hero I found there is more detailed than the one I found on Merriam Webster. Both definitions says that a hero is someone that shows great courage and has "heroic qualities"  or has "performed a heroic act". Dictionary.com gives a definition that is more in-depths, and it explains what are the "heroic qualities" a hero should have and how the definition of heroes change overtime. I think heroes also should have a unique quality that not many people have, but the quality does not have to be magical or anything, like Spider Man's webs or The Incredibles' super powers, it just has to be something a quality not everyone has. I also don't think that heroes need to be noticed by others in order to be a hero, because hero is something you are on the inside, you don't need others' approval at all. Even if you're not well-known or admired by many people, you can still be a hero, like some generous people who donates lots of money to poor people and travel to poor countries to help the starving citizens there. They can still be heroes!