"A hero cannot be a hero unless in a heroic world." -Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne so creatively said, "A hero cannot be a hero unless in a heroic world." Indeed he or she cannot be, because whereupon beginnings are beginnings and since they have a sight of their origin they must have glimpse of the end. Too much of a good thing could spoil an individual, therefore "unhappy the land that needs heroes" said Bertolt Brecht, is apparently true. Each individual would in reality be spoiled and become too dependent upon such a character. But is there not a clue in the mentioning of character? Heroes are characters, not real people. Real they may be, but only for a moment. When a man saves a kitten from a tree. A little boy saves his friend from drowning in the pool. A security guard takes the bullet for his Majesty. These are all real events that happened some time or multiple times in history, but we must keep in mind that they are heroes for those 15 famous minutes or their time in the limelight. Our society could not cope with one individual constantly "saving the day" so to speak.
In the books Beowulf, The Odyssey, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn there is one large common factor. The main characters are all heroes, in one sense or another, coming only from my opinion. For my definition of a hero is a recognized creature, human or not, that displays courage and selflessness, even though this could fit anyone in any situation. Although it does strongly apply to each of the following: Beowulf, Odysseus, and Huckleberry Finn. It only applied so well because the authors made the characters that way, they laid down the foundation for an accredited book to become well known and thus these heroes have gotten to us and our society and this very moment of me questioning, Is my definition of a hero, really the real definition?
Maybe I have neglected to see the true heroism that exists everyday. Only when one thinks of a real hero off the top of their heads; such as Joan of Arc. She was a heroine, but we do not know her personally and only her tale can now be told. This, which makes me recall, women too can be heroines. Who says not? Most examples of real heroes only seem to end with "-ines", so indeed they can. What about Elizabeth Blackwell the first woman to get a Ph.D. in medicine, Harriet Tubman that we all know saved the lives of countless slaves on the underground railroad, or what about Sammuramat the Assyrian queen who expanded Babylonian territory through direct contact in the battlefield? Are those not all heroic feats accomplished by women. Men appear to be the center of attention in society, but women are those who save the men and keep them sane in our society. There are no women characters in the books: Beowulf, The Odyssey, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; because as mentioned the authors had full control and we are male. The authors themselves were not selfless.
Everyone views heroes as something or someone special. In a way they are our models, someone to look up to, to aspire to. They do everything for those around them, but most importantly what is right for them. That is what makes everything that they do so grand, it fits like a puzzle into the tale or lifestyle. We'd all be better off aspiring to be heroic, not for the recognition, rather for the peace to keep within. We in fact do not need heroes because humans detest snooty people who show off. What we all need is the quiet hero within. Leave the real heroes to books in fantasy worlds that do not exist. Our lives are not an epic tale, we do not live in a book. However much we would desire this to be so, we cannot because life is just life not a novel worth reading.