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Odysseus and Epic Heroes

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According to the dictionary a hero is: a person of distinguished courage or ability, one who is admired for his brave deeds. "An epic hero possess enhanced strength, confidence, is helped and harmed by interfering Gods, has admirable ideals, and always emerges victorious from perilous situations,  this is the defining traits of an epic hero as stated in "The Odyssey:The Epic  class handout. A hero can simply be defined as a selfless and courageous person who exercises resiliency. A modern hero is selfless, courageous, and resilient. "Selfless: having little or no concern for oneself, especially with regard to fame, position, money, etc.; unselfish, (Webster Dictionary). Dr. Lickerman in his "What Makes a Hero,  document in Psychology Today states that heroes "have a willingness to make personal sacrifice for the benefit of others.  Personal sacrifice for others fits under the definition of selfless because that person has no regard for himself. Dr. Lickerman is a reliable source with medical training, who defines a hero using an example of one of his patients who is a kidney donor. "...A football player being promoted by the media as a hero, and I remember thinking how strange it was that the entire nation was celebrating him when only a handful of people knew about my patient," Dr. Lickerman describes a person who did something for someone and demanded nor received any recognition and was not praised in public, therefore this is an example that further proves Dr. Lickerman's point that true heros do not need recognition for their deeds. This example from Dr. Lickerman also further supports the Dictionary's definition of selflessness; an example of having no regard for fame or money. Throughout Dr. Lickerman's article he maintains that true heros, "make personal sacrifice to save another,  which proves the point that true heros are selfless. As previously stated in the definition of a hero " A person of distinguished courage or ability.  A hero is also courageous and resilient. According to the dictionary a resilient person is able to recover quickly from setbacks and posses ambition and determination. The definition of courage is, "The quality of being brave: the ability to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty, or pain without being overcome by fear,  (Webster Ditionary) . Dr. Lickerman who is a reliable source with medical training, shares a story about a hero to provide an example of heroism in his article. Dr. Lickerman provides the example of a patient who donates a kidney to help his brother who is struggling with AIDS. Dr. Lickerman states that his patient knew that his brother would die even if he had a new kidney but it would help increase his brother's quality of life .. Soon after his own kidney began to fail. There was a lot of uncertainty around the effectiveness of the kidney transplant. This patient also faced a dangerous situation that without one of your kidneys it is common knowledge that the other one will have to work harder and put the body at risk. This patient took all of these risks to save another. Just like the definition of courage, he gave him his kidney anyway overcoming all of the risks and fears to save another while compromising himself. After his brother's death and after he learned about his own health issues he simply said " thats how it goes.  It is truly amazing that through all of his self sacrifice for another and the setback of kidney failure that has caused him to go on disability that he never complains about his situation, this is the most accurate example of resiliency. "...Heros are all around us Single mothers who deny themselves clothes, and even food to send their children to College, Couples who become foster parents , children who put careers on hold t

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