As always, this is an unedited mess. It’s just Notte rambling, thinking out loud. I do so love his verbal processing. This character is just… well…
Good heavens, I love him. Onward!
What is a hero?
Do you know? Do I?
We assume we know. The word evokes something in us, in all of us, for good or ill – an indefinable sensation that uplifts or casts down, that encourages or turns bitter in the mouth.
Some see heroes as nonsense, as fabrications,prevarications created by those who crave control or fame or sex. Some see heroes as messianic figures, as the saviors who will selflessly and unfailingly come to our rescue.
We all feel it keenly – the hero, someone outside of us, of ourselves, who is somehow more than we are and can thusly overwhelm the vagaries and floods of this world by virtue of virtue – willpower, strength, selfless goodness.
We do not feel ourselves as heroes. Why would we? Heroes are intended perceived as unconquerable, or at indefatigable, unafraid, overcomers.
We are merely ourselves, and we are as often overcome as overcoming.
I will tell you what I believe. First, heroes are made; they can seem to be born, seem to bloom out of strong-willed or remarkable children, but that is simply not always the case. Heroes can be silent; apparently bullied; easily overlooked. No… I believe that heroes are made, and they are made by their own choices.
Heroes are those who, in the moment, choose.
They choose to act. They choose to speak. They choose to put another’s good above their own.
They choose to stand between. They choose to bleed. They choose the death of their favor and reputation so to preserve another’s.
They choose. And in any given moment, any of us can be a hero.
In any given moment, any of us can also choose not to be one.
Hero is a flux state, and one we must earn.
I did not earn it that day in summer many years ago, and the loss my choices laid upon me left permanent scars.
