Heroes Around Us

As a child, we are told heroes are always around us. Protecting and guiding us. As a child we think of batman and superman as our heroes, but when we grow up we realize our true heroes are those who do take action in a extraordinary challenge. Heroes are ordinary people who believe in something extraordinary. Heroes are formed when people are faced with a difficult circumstance and forced into action. In each one of these circumstances the person has a change to become a hero or to do nothing. When we look at the past and present we can see there are plenty of examples of people becoming heroes everyday.
From the early 1600's to the late 1800's, our world sat as thousands of people were brutally beaten, marred, raped, and sometimes even killed. People who most did not consider to be a human being. People who were considered slaves. Slavery last for hundreds of years and it seemed like it would never end. By the 1900's slavery had been abolished for quite some time, yet hatred and discrimination fueled the hearts of many. African Americans were told that, "All men were created equal and they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights", yet as they experienced the racial discrimination they were not so convinced. Until one man, one here, emerged. His name was Martin Luther King Jr. This man was surrounded by racial prejudice and discrimination yet he never let that kill his dream. He was faced with a horrible problem and instead of ignoring it, he became a hero and he faced it dead on. He said, "I have a dream that one day this national will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal. And they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights". It was through those circumstances that he found out who he was. He was a hero. Instead of ignoring racial discrimination and oppression, he faced it. You may think that heroes like that no longer exist.
You couldn't be further from the truth.
The sad fact is even though slavery has been abolished for centuries, 25 million children, including in america, are in some form of sexual slavery. Just like with slaves in the 1600's they are being beaten, killed and raped every single day. Now that you are faced with this circumstance, what will you do? Will you be a hero and fight back? Or will you coward back and do nothing? There are people now who are fighting back. There are heroes who still exist. My friend Marissa, at 15, is giving a speech on human trafficking and will be giving it to various audiences.There are Organizations that go in and rescue those who are bound by the chains of human trafficking.
From past to present, heroes are all around us. Protecting, rescuing and guiding those in need. All we need to do, is look for them. Anyone can be a hero. Even you. A hero is determined by what a person does when they are faced with a horrible circumstance. Will they look past it? Or rise up and become a hero like Dr.King, Marissa Fausset, and so many others?