First, yes this does include the female counterparts, I just didn’t want the title to be too long. Also, I realize I am posting 2 posts in one night, but these are about 2 different conversations that just so happen to occur at the same time. It was rather confusing.
So, my dad is away this week, (why you need to know that, I don’t know) but I was still able to talk to him a little bit about my Senior Exit project over the phone. That’s when I was talking about Joseph Campbell and the hero cycle and such. However, in the middle of the conversation, I asked my dad if I should include everyday “heroes”, life savers, and workers in my description of extraordinary men. I didn’t think they really fit with the model I am creating, and yet these people are called heroes and several do reach the hero status some time in their life. My dad said that they are extraordinary because of the fact that they accept the responsibility and opportunity to save people in their line of work. I said that made sense and hung up the phone, confident in my dad’s ideas.
Then, however, my mom voiced in her opinions. She didn’t like that my dad included everyone into my extraordinary men theory, and was wondering if there was another way to look at it. While I did accept what my dad had told me on the phone, I was a little cautious to actually say all those people were extraordinary just because of their jobs. So I thought about it for a while while I ate my dinner (my dad had interrupted my eating when he called) and now I think I have it a little better and more clear.
I decided not to say policemen, firefighter, soldiers, and others were extraordinary people because, basically, they’re not. They are still within the laws, and still don’t have the right to go above them. Yes, they are told they have the right to shoot/kill someone if they have to, but even that is protected by laws. Extraordinary men don’t have to break laws, but they do have to have that ability. Policemen and such don’t just acquire that ability by signing on to some force, there has to be more to it.
I then thought about all the men and women who are considered heroes today and are on some kind of force or squad. If I said that all those people weren’t extraordinary, how did these people make it to the top of the chart and become heroes? Well, I had to really think of that one, but here’s what I concluded. Everything I said in my post with the diagram is true; to take a step up from the ordinary, there has to be an opportunity and one must accept it. Taking on a job/profession is not that opportunity, but an emergency situation is. The reason so many policemen, firefighters, and soldiers are heroes is because they were involved in some sort of emergency where they came out on top or some how others benefitted from them.
In those cases, the journey from ordinary to extraordinary and extraordinary to hero happens instantaneously. There is always a brief second where the person and soon-be-hero sees an opportunity to help, takes it, and therefore becomes extraordinary. In that same time, they proceed to follow the opportunity and hopefully saves live. That’s the change from extraordinary to hero.
It’s different from the other examples I’ve been looking at because it happens much, much quicker. Although, who ever said the journey must be slow? My mom seemed satisfied with my conclusion, and now I am too. I think this encompasses the people I wanted it to, but also then limits it. I don’t want to make a model of something that everyone can be apart of, but I also don’t want it to be just for fictional or dramatic characters.
Until I talk with my parents again!
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