What Is a Hero?

Tien Nguyen

Professor Parks

English 101, Argumentative Essay

18 October 2015

Unlikely Hero

        What is a hero? Hero is a person who has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act. Unlikely hero is the latter. Beside heroic qualities people, which you can assume that they already have at least one of these powers in them such as physical, mental, and financial...to become a hero ; there are a certain group of people who can be unlikely heroes, where the person  does not fit the stereotype of a hero and are as far as they can be from it. Examples for  this group of unlikely heroes you can easily find on the news or the Internet.

        One group of unlikely heroes comes from situations that are difficult or almost  impossible for them to become hero.  They stand in the shadows, never wanting to be a hero. There is a woman stand out for this type of valor in the list of  “10 Incredible Acts of Heroism by Ordinary People”(Coupe). Lauren Prezioso from New South Wales, Australia, dove into the water herself-despite being eight months pregnant to rescue two boys from being swept out to sea. While enjoying a day at the beach, Prezioso heard a mother's cries for help and watched the boys getting pulled beneath the water's surface, she waited, hoping someone would do something. Prezioso knew that she was not  able to act in this situation at first. She was eight months pregnant and diving into the deep water was too risky for her and her unborn baby. She had put her own life on hold for the needs of others when no one else could. She almost drowned while trying to hold the boys in her  arms up on the water and swim to shore. Finally, a fellow beach-goer jumped in and pulled them to safety-a man Prezioso contends is the true hero. She did not even want to take credit for her incredible act. Unlikely heroes might lack of strenght, though they possess just as much courage and selflessness.

        Another group of unlikely heroes has a true potential of becoming hero hidden until the time comes for it and calls out to their aid. From Abc 7 News online, a brave14-year-old boy McCockran “is being called a hero after risking his life to pull a disabled man and his dog from a burning building” (Wang). When McCockran saw the fire started from the apartment of his disable neighbor, he did not hesitate and ran fast in with a fire extinguisher. He had to crawl under the smoke to reach 62-year-old Richard Smith. Then, he had to run back in there a second time to get the dog. As he ran in there, flames started coming out of the room from the roof and burned stuff started to fall. The whole house would have gone up in flames at anytime, he knew that he would have gotten back-drafted. He was keenly aware he was about to risk his life; nevertheless, he kept run in to rescued the man's dog. Despire the fact that everyone should  stay away from the fires, except firefighters, young McCrockran ran in to help  the man who could not move and his dog. Simply, he thought he could not  sit  there and let somebody die. He just knew that something had to be done, even though the odds are placed against him both physically and mentally. He was a young boy with no fire prevention-protection training and without the right equipment, who ignored the danger so one man and a dog can live. It was an implausible act of  heroism by a teenager-the unlikely hero type proves that anyone can become a hero.