What is the mark of a true hero?

Heroes today are different from heroes yesterday. In the past, heroes have been historical figures (generally people who sacrificed for the greater good). Now, however, they are less anthropomorphic and more individualistic: our idols include athletes and rappers. What, in your opinion, is the mark of a true hero, and why do you feel this way? Do you agree that there is a difference between the classical and modern hero?What is the mark of a true hero?
Integrity


A word that so many people seem to forget in this day and age.What is the mark of a true hero?
his trajic death which serves as a homage to the law of a particular civilization.
The matrix of destiny.
A true hero is somone that bleeds blue. Somone that has in some way changed the way of we think forever in a positive way.





So yes , a singer can in a way be a hero if they influenced somone to acheive somthing they never thought possible before.





Of course the greatest heros go beyond being called hero's , true hero's or legends. There icons , people who will be remembered for all eternity.





even though i heard this in a movie i still know it to be accurate. To save a life is the greatest victory you could ever accomplish.......ever.
I see a hero as someone who puts others before themselves; someone who acts with courage in a difficult situation. Someone who shows leadership.





I don't think of most athletes or Rappers as heroes, although Lance Armstrong comes to mind since he triumphed through adversity and spread awareness about the battle against cancer.





The ancient heroes were usually larger than life figures; nowadays our heroes are more everyman.
Unfortunately politics and media have a strong hold on public opinion. Often times heroes are determined publicly by the people who decide to invest in their cause or else what future events were affected by a persons actions.


To me a heroe is someone who makes choices that are common with Christian goals. My heroes are my father, my bishop, my Mission President, and many others. People who set a good example for me and did what they said they would do. I didn't always agree with their choices but usually that was because I was young and ignorant. I choose people who have goals common with Christianity because it is dedicated to happiness without guilt and building foundations of a life that serves others. I have to agree that service is the root of all happiness.
I think a hero is a person who changes the direction of a person's life or the course of a nation's history for the better.





Obiwan Kenobi was a hero, for example, because he changed the course of one person's life (Luke), and Luke is a hero because he changed the course of history of an entire galaxy.





I know it's a mythical story, but the truth of George Lucas' story is still poignant and valid. Lucas himself said he was influenced by Joseph Campbell's writings on the mythology of the hero in all human cultures.
There are both similarities and differences between modern and classical heroes. On the one hand, what they both have in common is the possession of something, be it a personalit trait, ability or possession, that ordinary people lack and therefore admire and desire. what do Hercules and 50 cent have in common? They have extraordinary possessions (hercules had strenght and courage and 50 has money and street cred) that ordinary people do not have. Ordinary people realize these possessions are good and therefore think those that have them are good. It's a primtive comparison but you get the idea. Now, how are the classical and the modern heroes different? Part of the difference is the decline of the reliance of the supernatural in everyday life. We have a much greater understanding of how the world works. Where we used to believe supernatural forces governed the world around us we now realize that the laws of the universe are not something we can affect with burned offerings. Due to this realization we have begun to focus on the greatness of mankind in general and of certain men and women in specific rather than in the greatness of mythological beings. The result is that heroes are more human. This is a positive change. A negative change is that with the wide spread influence of mainstream media and the commercialization that has taken over every aspect of our lives, people are being force fed their heroes Media and corporations dictate to the masses who their heroes d'jour are. Although our heroes are human, they are still not, for the most part, someone any of us can grow up to be. If MTV, for example, decides not to promote them, no one will worship them, no matter how great they may be.