So you think you are a hero?

In our society everyone wants to be a hero; everyone wants to have a hero.  We go around searching for this so called hero but are we looking in the right place? During class this month we have looked at two kinds of heroes: an epic hero, Beowulf, and a classical hero, Oedipus.  Beowulf is big and strong; he is brave and risks his life for human kind going off to fight dragons and monsters.  Now this kind of hero can not possibly exist in this society.  A single man (or woman, but women normally are not heroes in our society) can not go out on his own hunting down monsters.  Maybe if he is a policeman he can catch criminals, but still, that is a force of people not a single person.  Oedipus is a classical hero; in my opinion, I think he is a hero because he took it upon himself to find Laius' murderer not for himself but to better the city.  Then when he finds out the murderer is himself he does not shy away from the punishment but takes it and this shows mental strength that many do not possess.  I think that many would have trouble thinking of Oedipus as a hero because they do not appreciate mental strength.  Superheroes are always super strong, they can fly, or they shoot lasers with their eyes.  There is not a hero that can take a lot of mental abuse and still have self-confidence.  There is not a hero that fights bullies with wit and not violence.  All of our heroes fight and use physical forces to overcome great odds.  Society does not want to read about, or watch a movie about, someone that uses their keenness to combat a bad person.  People love violence and exciting chases and physical displays.  This is what superheroes give to our society.  This is what people want and that is why heroes are so hard to find.  Not because they do not exist but because we are looking in the wrong place.