Like many people, I have no clear idea about heroes. At some point, we all wonder if we need a hero and what a hero really is.
Although there are a lot of differences in cultures, heroes around the world generally share a number of characteristics (特点) which give us courage and make us want to learn from them.
A hero does something worth talking about. A hero has a special story to tell and people think highly of it. But a hero is not just the person with great fame (声誉).
A hero has powers larger than himself. Some people want to live like a hero, and they have to experience life with new and further meaning. A sure test for would-be heroes is what or whom they serve. What do they want to live and die for? If the answer suggests they serve only their own fame, they may be famous persons but not heroes.
A hero has a vision from the mountain top. He has the power to move people. He creates new possibilities. Without Gandhi, India might still be part of Britain. Without Martin Luther King, Jr., Americans might take different buses, eat in different restaurants, go for walks in different parks, and shop in different stores because of the different colours of their skin.
There might be changes in society without a hero, but the speed of change would be rather slow. Thanks to heroes in history, they make the society develop so rapidly.
