<p>I'm interested to see what people think of this one. I didn't particularly like the prompt, and the essay became slightly skewed and awkward, in my opinion. At any rate, any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>**Assignment: Usually, people look to others around themordinary peoplefor their heroes. They define heroes as decent citizens who make sacrifices or try to make a difference. For example, people name streets after local war veterans, parks after teachers, bridges after local politicians. Rejecting historical, literary, or national figures as heroes, people tend to believe that anyone can be a hero. A hero does not have to be superhuman.</p>
<p>Should ordinary people be considered heroes, or should the term "hero" be reserved for extraordinary people? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.**</p>
<p>The ancient Greeks considered a hero to be anyone who expanded the possibilities of mortals. Even today, this is still true. Only extraordinary individuals willing to step into the mantle that society needs should be considered heroes.</p>
<p>A true hero must shape the world, rather than permitting the world to mold them. The average individual will walk into the world and almost immediately succumb to the pressures of society. The expectations of other individuals will inevitably change any average person until they adopt the status quo. A truly great person is not entirely molded, but chooses to mold society he or she becomes the change they want to see in the world, as Mahatma Ghandi put it. Ghandi saw the British in control of India, and eventually forced them out with nonviolent means. Rather than accept the rule of the British, as so many Indians did, he fought back in his own unique method. Ghandi is remarkable not because he wanted the British to leave, but because he actually accomplished this feat. An ordinary person accepts the world around them; the extraordinary change it.</p>
<p>While shaping the world, however, the greatest souls also open new possibilities. The average person sees the world through the eyes of their peers; they think of life as a series of paths to death. To be someone greater, however, one must be willing to occasionally leave this path, and forge a new one. The willingness to achieve both the beaten and less traveled path, and become a pioneer in a new world, is the line separating good individuals and great souls. Heroes create new paths and possibilities so othersthe ordinary members of societycan follow. Rosa Parks, for instance, created a new road for black people everywhere to follow. By saying no to a bus driver who asked her to give her seat to a white man, she engendered a new future for African American people everywhere. Indubitably, many black people had been asked to vacate their seats previously, but only Rosa Parks stood up for her beliefs in equality and refused. Forging new possibilities for others to follow defines a hero, but simultaneously is only something the truly extraordinary have the courage and fortitude to do. The commonwealth are merely the followers; the jewels of society are the pioneers exploring a new future.</p>
<p>Every human has goals and ambitions in life; heroes, however, have ideals that benefit the world around them. A truly great soul, such as Mahatma Ghandi or Rosa Parks, will never be content with watching the world change. They always want to be the change, and thus open new possibilities for the remainder of society. To accept the responsibility of the worlds progress requires courage, and only truly extraordinary people can do so. For this reason, heroes are without exception extraordinary people who transcend from good individuals to great souls. Such qualities are never natural. Our choices in life define us. The only differences between the normal and the great are their choices. Individuals thus have a choiceto be a common person and a follower, or a hero and a leader? The average picks the former, the extraordinary, the latter.</p>