Indira Gandhi, the first and only female prime minister of India, once said, "Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave." While bravery has been seen as positive by society for millennia, our view of forgiveness and gentleness has certainly changed. And just as our values are dynamic, our heroes change as well--from Theseus, who mercilessly tortured villains, to Martin Luther King Jr., who advocated nonviolence despite being in a world filled with the opposite. Society shapes heroes because they adapt to our needs therefore evolving with our culture.
One of the main reasons we as mankind are attracted to our champions is their ability to change with our ever-transforming difficulties in an effort to conquer them. Working for the good of others
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Martin Luther King, a well-known revolutionary, was inspired through what he saw and experienced: "The degree of pre-existing societal discrimination demonstrated in America, coupled with Dr. King’s education, helped facilitate his rise to the status of hero" (Husain, 7). The conventions, customs, and conditions of his time not only compelled Dr. King to action, but also dictated his measure of success. Decades earlier, there definitely were African Americans who stood up for their rights. However, the movement in the mid-20th century led by Dr. King only had a lasting impacts due to the increasingly progressive attitude that characterizes the period. Heroes yearning to make a mark start many flames, but those flames can only become fires with a dynamic culture as fuel.
Successful heroes adapt to what society needs them for, and as they do so they change to fit the virtues of the masses. Heroes, through history, have been as transformative as the societies who elevated them to that status. After all, no one can become a hero without others recognizing so. If our ideal image of a hero changed from Theseus to Martin Luther King, who knows what we'll think of next. No matter what it is, our world needs to remember that fortune favors the brave, and that fortune can be found in