A hero.
What's wrong with that?
They accuse me... say I want to be a hero... that I TRY to be a hero.
What is that supposed to mean? What is a hero anyway?
I typed 'hero' into my search bar and about 171,000,000 results came up. Clicking through the top few, I discarded the offered definition of a type of sandwich and downloadable episodes of "Heroes" and found the definition of "hero" on Dictionary.com.
"A man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities."
"A person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal."
Moving on to Wikipedia...
"A hero, or heroine (female) was originally a demigod... it later came to refer to a character who, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, displays courage and the will for self sacrifice – that is, heroism – for some greater good, originally of martial courage or excellence but extended to more general moral excellence."
Farther down the page, I find-
"The literal meaning of the word is "protector" or "defender" "...
Really?
Then I plead guilty.
I do try to be a hero, in fact.
I fight to keep my feet during times of ... adversity, you might say. To not attempt to keep my courage in a 'position of weakness' is known as failure.
To see someone else going down a path I've already taken... making the mistakes I've already made and headed for the shipwreck that I'll carry the scars from forever... and to not try to protect them- is utter selfishness.
You may live your life as you please. I'm sorry if it bothers you that I aim high... that courage, bravery, self sacrifice, the greater good and other people mean something to me. I'm sorry you don't like it that I try to protect and defend those weaker, more naive, less experienced than myself.
I'm sorry you don't like heroes. Maybe you need one... and I don't mean the sandwich.
I'll stop with this quote- the ending of a poem attributed to Emerson-
"To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded."
Looks like I'm not the only one trying to be a hero.