The death of a hero
The clouds of melancholy drifts over me, and I must sincerely ask you what does it mean for a hero to die? Is it the end of their heroic tale, bound to fade into the depths of the past, forgotten, their achievements lost? Or is it when they step outside the line of their chivalrous code revoking all they did for a moment of sin as Lancelot falls drawing down a dynasty?
Perhaps instead of this murder, it is a slow death, one of slow wear. The soul, shredded by endless tribulations and torments, ground into what one could say is no longer a hero, perhaps even the villain.
But perhaps is it possible a hero could never die? Therefore once again I pick up my weapon and wield the sword of my idealism. This is my war in this weary broken world. This is my idealism.
I say, so long as one heart remembers, one inkling of redemption in their fight, there is no death. A hero, like a phoenix, must be born again in the fire.
What do I mean by the fire? The slow grinding that wears their ideals to the bone, the terrible toll it takes on their morality, this is the fire. Consuming all that stands before it. Other times, a single burst of flame, and all crumbles into ashes.
Yet, I echo, “In moments like these, I look to the heavens.”
The rebirth must occur. Rejuvenation of the hero’s principle for without this he will die. Failure is necessary rather it is inevitable. A true hero never dies, for he is reborn in the agony of failure, free from the shackles of mediocrity by the challenges that beset him. He is the overcomer by the challenges he faces.
A lack of suffering only breeds the foulest thing, mediocrity. A sword unsharpened is weak unable to fulfil its purpose. The same goes for every man, the one we wish to call a hero. Like a blade, he must be forged.
His very metaphysical and existential value to the world relies on this consumption. Perhaps I grow too verbose, perhaps, it is nothing but the words flitting from the mouth of a fool.
I am a fool. Yet, I aspire to be a hero. One who faces the failures and success and mounts each of them with determination. No, never resting in the laurels of victory or the dungeons of brokenness.
Rise again! Face the sweet call of duty!
