Every single human being wants to succeed at something. Whether it be sports, school, their job, or even the overall concept of life. They want to do what their peers did wrong. What does this entail? This demands that they sacrifice some concept of freedom in order to succeed. Sacrifice is more important than success because one cannot achieve success without sacrificing something first. If a student wants to get an A on their test, they need to sacrifice time from their day to study. If a soldier wants to be a hero, they must sacrifice their family, their honor, and even their life. Throughout Earth’s history, there have been many records of heroic deeds, depicting what they did to succeed. In each of these stories, it tells the reader what they have to give up to receive. Nothing will happen if the hero does not make the attempt to make a change.
Let’s look at the story of Beowulf, written in the seventh century. This story depicts the ideal hero for the time. Beowulf is a prince who has sacrificed his life many times for total strangers. In this story he is at it again, sacrificing his life to save the Danes from the loathsome Grendel, a monster who is killing and eating the Danish soldiers. During this point in time, Grendel has been snacking on Danes for a while now, and nothing has happened that will change that. This is a noxious situation. If anyone were to try and stop the beast, they would have the likelihood of being eaten. However, Beowulf is willing to risk it. Beowulf takes on the beast and even murders him, saving the Danes from his bloody fangs. If Beowulf never risked his life to save those people, there would not be any Danes left! Sacrifice is that middle piece that leads to success. There is also a trickle affect when it comes to heroes and sacrifice. There is a poem written by Richard Lovelace called, “To Lucasta, On Going to the Wars.” This fourteen-line poem talks about a man leaving his lover, Lucasta, and going to scuffle with the enemy on the battlefield. Lucasta sees this as a selfish act, for even the narrator states, “I could not love thee, Dear, so much, Loved I not honor more.” (“To Lucasta, On Going to Wars,” Line 13-14, 77) However, his sacrifice could lead to her life being saved in the long run. What if the enemy, whatever their goal, found their way back to the homeland Lucasta lives in and kills her? There is always that possibility of success or failure when it comes to sacrifice, but either way, one has to make a sacrifice. The whole point is that the hero is trying to make a change. Now some would argue there is no point in making a sacrifice if one does not succeed, such as Wilfred Owen in his poem, “Dulce et Decorum Est,” “My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, the Old Lie: Dulce et Decorum Est Pro patria mori. (it is sweet and honorable to die for one’s country.)” In this line Owen claims that no one should feed the heroic success of death into the minds of children. Owen seems to think that death is not a form of success, rather failure, so there is no point in fighting if the end result is death. However, that is a decision the individual has to make. Everyone has a basic understanding of war. People use artillery to kill the enemy for a cause. Obviously, some will die. However, if an individual’s pride for that position of war is strong enough, death may just be worth it. This is why our military is on a volunteer basis. If the soldiers are not willing to sacrifice their lives for the greater good of the United States, they might as well not join. If someone wanted to make a change, how would they go about it? First, they need to sacrifice something. Whether they sacrifice their previously led lives like Beowulf, or give up their lovers like the narrator of “To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars,” some characteristic of live must be given up first. If the need for change is strong enough, the individual will not even bat an eye at the possibility of death. Even if the attempt for change goes down in flames, the fact that the attempt was made is what counts. Sacrificing some quality of life leaves room for the hero to observe the task at hand, fight for what they believe in without distraction, and do what they believe is right in order to succeed. There is no success without sacrifice.
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Heroes come out of fights and battles. A hero is a successful representative of their position. In order to start a journey as a hero, one needs to take a stand. However, in order to become a hero, they need to succeed. One could argue that both taking a stand and winning are both important concepts of a hero, but which is more important? Anyone can take a stand, but nothing will happen if you do not win. This is represented in the epic novel, Beowulf.
A fight or battle is the typical clash of two opposing views. The fight usually consists of people or representatives who are fighting for their position. A fight usually occurs because there is a desire for change in the society, event, or system. In Beowulf, the people of Denmark are in need of change. They need to get rid of the monstrous Grendel in order to live peacefully once again. However, Grendel wants to continue living in Denmark, feasting on King Hrothgar's soldiers. These are two opposing views, and nothing will happen until one of them wins. If the Danes want to save their soldiers, they will need to beat Grendel first. In Beowulf, the Danes have no personal success in winning the battle against Grendel. Grendel is succeeding in having his way. In any battle, the victor gets their way until a new victor defeats them. This is why winning is so important. Winning opens up a new range of possibilities not only for change, but for superiority as well. It is not until the main character, Beowulf, sails to Denmark that the Danes make any progress in achieving their goal. Once Beowulf defeats Grendel, then change can occur in Denmark. Some would argue that taking a stand is more important because that is where the fight begins. A hero cannot become a hero if they do not have something to fight for. Even though it is true, winning is more important because all of that time, dignity, and dedication will be wasted if the position does not prevail over the opposing argument. In Beowulf, the valiant warrior, Beowulf, brags, "They have seen my strength themselves, Have watched me rise from the darkness of war, Dripping with my enemies' blood." (Lines 244-246) This statement tells the Danes that Beowulf has the strength to possibly defeat the monster, but what use is that statement if Beowulf comes back to the Danes as an empty corpse? Beowulf tells the Danes that he will solve their problem and that he will change life in Denmark, and only this can be achieved by winning the battle against Grendel. Luckily, for Beowulf and the Danes, Beowulf does win the battle against not only Grendel, but his mother as well. Thanks to Beowulf's success, Denmark will no longer be plagued by a man-eating monster and his angry mother. Beowulf kept true to his statement and won the battle, bringing change to their society. If Beowulf had not won, thousands of other people would have died at the claws of Grendel. Winning not only means change, but also securing the future for others. The future is unpredictable, but doing what you can to win your argument will allow the people it affects to look towards the future and prepare for it. When the Danes could not defeat Grendel, they saw death in the near future. Once Beowulf was able to defeat Grendel, the Danes saw a new future. They saw a full and long life ahead of them, one that did not include being ripped apart and devoured. With time, dignity, lives, and ego on the line, which is more important? Taking a stand will start the battle, but only victory will win the war. Beowulf saved thousands of lives, as well as his reputation by winning the battle against Grendel and Grendel's mother. Many soldiers before him took a stand to defeat the beast, but did they succeed? Success is not represented in death. In the end, winning takes it all. When the hero wins, they open up a new future. Winning makes the final call on what happens after the battle. Winning is what makes someone a hero. When asked what I wanted to be, I always said I wanted to be a teacher. This has been a dream of mine since I was in elementary school. As the years went by I would always wonder what school was like from my teacher’s point of view. Soon I discovered a program called Teacher Academy. This program granted me the opportunity to experience school from the teacher’s point of view. At first I thought I would be mentally capable of teaching any age level. I quickly found out I was wrong.
It was the first day of my second placement. I was in a second grade classroom in the elementary school. I noticed right away that this particular group of students were going to be difficult to handle. Later on my teacher would tell me this was the hardest group she ever worked with. In this class I noticed that second grade students need a lot of attention. They would get up from their seats to talk to their teacher, even after she would ask them to sit back down. Their attention span was that of a squirrel. Directions would be missed because five kids would be watching their friend stab an eraser to death. When they asked questions, they were basically asking for the directions to be repeated. No one would listen to their peers’ questions either, resulting in the same question being asked over a dozen times. Even after the directions were repeated, the same questions would be asked. Projects and assignments took longer than needed because of this. I had no clue what I was getting myself into. Even though I had a culture shock walking in, I continued to work in this placement. Then the fatal day came when my host teacher was gone and the class had a substitute. In her substitute plans she left her replacement instructions that during my hour there, I would be teaching. On this particular day, they played ‘Martin Luther King Jr. Day Bingo.’ To my surprise, the class was worse than usual. I was ignored by half the class, the other would continually asked what the word was or make a side comment about the word. Kids would ask for more chips or complain that another student stole their chips. The substitute teacher tried to help, but the students would not listen to her either. Soon another second grade teacher came to control the class, giving them all a sense of guilt and embarrassment for making so much noise and not listening to the current adults in the room. After this day, I knew for certain that I did not have what it took to teach at an elementary school level. Today I am in a middle school placement and I have come to the conclusion that I will teach middle school students in the future. Though they still have that sense of innocence and the need for attention, by this point in their careers they have learned the proper behavior needed in the classroom and more teaching could be done. I find this work environment to be more productive, both to them and their teacher, as well as less stressful. From time to time behavior issues need to be addressed, but only to a certain group of students. They will follow directions, for the most part, and ask more reasonable questions or address more important problems. The other day I was working in my placement with the students on their Chrome Books. Students were having issues logging in, and these problems were more severe, such as the computer not registering their email or the computer shutting down mysteriously. A lot of the students were able to help each other while my host teacher and I helped other individuals. Elementary students may be cute and innocent, but it takes a special kind of person to teach them the basic needs and proper behavior needed for middle school and high school. Thanks to Teacher Academy, I learned that I am not that kind of person. I know I cannot be at twenty-three places at once, and thankfully middle school students know that. Thanks to a particular second grade class, I learned that I am more cut out for middle school rather than elementary school. I applaud those who can teach at the elementary school level, because if it were not for them the world would be in chaos. |
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