“Be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.”

–William Shakespeare

A car speeds off a cliff, landing upside down in the water. A young boy waterskiing nearby hops off of his waterskies and into the water, diving towards the rapidly sinking vehicle. He quickly removes the trapped man from the car and rushes him to a hospital, saving his life. The next day, there was no sign of the mystery hero. Nearly a month later, they found him: an Eagle Scout named Benjamin Paulsen. The papers asked him if he thought he was a hero. His response was simply, “I don’t think so.”

Benjamin Paulsen’s actions were the sort of deed one would associate with a hero. This brings up the question, what is a hero? The definition of a hero varies from person to person. To me, a hero is the idea of a person who goes to great lengths to help others. Heroes are people to look up to, and seem almost on a higher plane of existence. We feel like it isn’t possible to ever reach that higher plane for ourselves, no matter how much good we do, hence why many people who are considered heroes don’t claim that title for themselves. The hero status seems unobtainable, and they do not believe that they have reached that higher plane of existence.

My great grandfather Michael, after whom I am named, was a talented metalsmith who became a master welder in the years leading up to World War II. When the war began, Michael rushed to enlist. He felt that fighting on the battlefield would make him a hero, and he wanted to contribute to his country on the front lines. On the bus to ship him to the war, a man stood at the front of the bus and read names off a list he held in his hands. Michael was on the list. He was to stay home and weld ships, because Army headquarters believed that he could contribute more to his county on the home front. Michael worked in San Francisco to weld ships for use in the war, as well as teach others how to weld. Even as one man, his contribution was as necessary for the war effort as the contributions of actual soldiers. Despite his thoughts that he could not be a hero if he did not engage the enemy directly on the battlefield, he was still as heroic to those who knew him as any fighting soldier.

Michael and Benjamin didn’t consider themselves heroes because inherent in the very concept of a ‘hero’ is that someone is always better, no matter how much good you accomplish. Everyone looks up to someone, including those that can be considered heroes. My great grandfather Michael was living proof of that- he looked up to the soldiers on the battlefield. But to the people he trained, the ultimate hero was Michael himself: the man who sacrificed the possibility of realizing his own idea of a hero in order to better serve his country.