User:Emiee rox

Anglo-Saxon heroes vs modern day heroes
“Anglo-Saxon is a collective term usually used to describe the culturally and linguistically similar people living in the south and east of the island of Great Britain (modern England) from around the mid-5th century AD to the Norman conquest of 1066.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxons) A hero during the times of the Anglo-Saxons was a person who was very much admired for doing great things. Anglo-Saxons had many different ideals or standards as to what these men should be. The people themselves were very big into war for example, so a man who had great history in battle and would fight for their lords, which could sometimes result in their own deaths, was considered a hero. They also believed in order for someone to be considered a hero they had to show great leadership. Other values during this time were things such as fame after death, bravery, loyalty to their kin, and a lot of self-confidence. However, for heroes to this day, these values are not all preferred. Like being self-confident or “cocky”, now modern day heroes are most of the time very modest and that is why many people like them an think of them as heroes. Although some of these ideals of an Anglo-Saxon hero are not same for today’s hero, I do believe that many of them are the same and were passed down throughout they years.

One ideal of the typical Anglo-Saxon hero that was very important to possess was leadership. An example of a great Anglo-Saxon leader would be Beowulf. In the epic Anglo-Saxon poem the main character Beowulf, showed a great deal of leadership in certain times when no one else would. Beowulf was the hero of a Germanic tribe from Sweden called the Gates, and after hearing the stories of a monster he traveled to Denmark to help the king of Herot, named Hrothegar, and rid him of his burden. “So Beowulf chose the mightiest men he could find, the bravest and best of all the gates, fourteen in all, and lead them down to their boat…(Beowulf, page 43, lines 119-122) This exact reference shows how even though he did not live there and it was not his battle he still gathered the strongest men around and lead them into battle, to help others. Leadership, or ones ability to lead people, has also been shown in recent heroes of the years. For example George Washington. Through his well-known military achievements in the French and Indian War, George Washington showed great leadership with his ability to “stick to a cause no matter how great the odds” (Gibbons, page11) were and lead his fellow men. Although Beowulf is believed to be a fictional character, “Scholars generally agree that many of the personalities of Beowulf also appear in Scandinavian sources,” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf) which I think means that although there was no excact Beowulf there very well could have been someone who was considered a hero of the time for similar reason. Maybe not for killing man eating ogers and dragons, but for being a leader.

Another ideal, or charteristic I believe that as well as in Anglo-Saxon heros is a standard for todays heroes is loyalty of kin. Kin, in this sence meaning not all there children and family, but friends, fellow warriors, lords and or kings. For instance also in the epic poem “Beowulf, hearing from mariners of Grendel’s murderous visits sailed from Geatland with fourteen stalwart companipons to render Hrothgar the help of his great strength.”(Bulfinch, page 330) This showed how even though it wasn’t even his leader, Beowulf an Anglo-Saxon hero, went to fight even though it could have cost him his own life, showing loyalty to Hrothgar. Plato, a greek philospher, stated that only a man who is just can be loyal, and that loyalty is a condition of genuine philosophy. Many men in recent events have come to show this. These are the men and woman who helped in the 9/11 attacks. The Acting Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Marianne Lamont Horinko wrote, “On September 11, 2001, we saw ordinary people choose duty in the face of death, as the security guards in the Trade Center continued to help people out even as the buildings were collapsing around them. On September 1l, we saw loyalty to friends overwhelm all sense of danger, as the New York City firefighters searched tirelessly for their own. On September 11, 2001, we saw ordinary people choose self-sacrifice for the good of strangers, as the passengers on the plane over Pennsylvania refused to allow the hijackers to succeed. On September 11, 2001, we saw ordinary people choosing to spend their final moments expressing their love to their families. There is a man in New York who has tape-recorded many of those final messages, and he listens to the tape every day because it is such a pure expression of human love.” This piece of writing I think is the best way to explain how the loyalty of those people has proven them to be heroes today to many. Although throughout the Anglo-Saxon time, “a man’s kin were his strongest support in everyday affairs.” If someone was killed it would have been that persons kinsmen who would take revenge on the person who had killed them, this is not the same to this date (except in Latin countries). However the idea of being loyal is still shown, just not by killings or wer-gild.

It is my opinion that people now a days use the word hero too often. Peter H. Gibbon once wrote “In difficult times, we turn to the word hero to express our deepest sorrow, our highest aspiration, and our most profound admiration.” I too agree with his statement, I think that people turn to others when there seems to be nowhere else to turn to. The Anglo-Saxons turned to them in time of war, which is similar to what we do today. For instance after the 9/11 attacks, we turned to the police officers and fire fighters to be our heroes. This, I think is what lead the similar values of Anglo-Saxon heroes to today heroes.

--emiee 04:57, 9 February 2007 (UTC)