The Hero

In literature... The hero is defined as a main character who undergoes a journey and is transformed to be a better person by the end of the journey. An antagonist who always tries to do the right thing. Even if it was something bad, it would usually be justified.

In todays culture a hero is symbolized through various ways. We have the more famous superheroes like Superman, Batman, Spiderman etc. In greek mythology or history we have that of Achilles, Hercules, Philatetis. Malay culture we have Tuah, Nadim and they were all considered heroes. Having your name written amongst these men would probably seem cool but i would actually disagree. Okay! explanation time, the reason why im writing this blog is because late late night in bed my friends and i had this discussion (more like small talk actually) where they said "


"wouldnt it be great if we had superpowers where we could save the world??"

Yeah its a childish conversation to have, but everything can be "matured" you know. I disagreed in quiet. The hero complex happens to every guy. Well almost every guy. The need to protect. The need to save. The need to be looked up to. But not all are built this way. There so much great thing to be admired towards a hero. Like a story, but whats more important is the stories that are left untold.

A hero is lonely. He will never truly be happy with anyone. This is my theory. The larger-than-life you become, the more the lack of little things hurt you. Lets take some examples, Superman will out-live any women he is in love with. Whats even worst so will his child. Both of them (or more) will have to go through the agony of losing a loved one, maybe more than once in their long life time. and since supermans child would be half human, the child might not even be immortal. NOTHING is more wrong than having to bury your own child. He will feel that and its inevitable.

Batman has lost both of his parents and not being able to stick to one relationship, he will probably die alone in his room, robin will get older, and die all the same and no one will ever really know them...

Achilles will have blood stained on his hands forever, the eyes of the people he killed will haunt his dreams and he cannot share his nightmare (to be exact) with anyone. I mean come on, he killed the cousin of his lover, theres no way that relationship is going to work.

Tuah, has had to go through the death of three of his five brothers and having to kill his last brother by himself. Killing your brother, the only fragment of your past where you lived with a smile. Betrayed by the people he believed in most. He, will die knowing he ended his brothers life, for the sake of people who earlier tried to execute him.

Can we live like a hero? Can we save the people around us not just from everything else but also from themselves?? Can we stay alone for the rest of our lives??

These so called hero has one problem and one problem only. The fact that they are larger than life. The fact that they are larger than life makes everyone around them think, that maybe, they dont need trivialities such a hand to hold, a loved one to hug, a brother to talk to, a family..........

When you are larger than life... then everything else seems trivial. that is why in the end... what hero wants.... is to be normal.... to like everyone else... to be average... to live life not be larger than it....

someone once said "living is not about the moments that you take a breath... but moments that take your breath away..."

possibly, in taking away other people breaths by creating moments... these heroes.. forgot to have moments that take their breaths away....