The Heros of Our Time

Often times when someone mentions a hero people today think of the Marvel superheros or the big brawny men who can lift cars and fight bad guys. But how did this perception come to be, when they were so different back in Greek and Roman times? The evolution of a hero comes with a changing society and the evolution of the technology of the day.
The definition of a hero and their heroic deeds has greatly changed, and is most easily seen through the different cultures of time periods. In Greek and Roman times a hero was someone who was of godly decent, they fought monsters and won prizes. People like Hercules and Achilles who performed great deeds and saved their nations from catastrophic events caused by jealous and angry Gods. Then as time went on the Renaissance came to be and the definition of a hero changed once again. Instead of demigods fighting monsters it turned to nobles, rising horses, acting as knights in shining armor. They would lead their individual armies on raids of enemy castles, they would win riches for their kings, and they would save damsels in distress. Every now and then they would go and fight dragons, which shows the influence of past cultures on the heroes of the time.
Now, in modern times we have our comic book and movie superheroes. Crime-fighting, building jumping, supernatural people with special powers. However, when we look to real life heroes we look at our teachers, military, doctors, and policemen. One woman who was considered a hero was Kaci Hickox, who went to Sierra Leone to treat Ebola patients. She was revered and idolized for her noble acts of risking her own safety and health to help these underprivileged people. In many people's minds she was a modern day Mother Theresa and a hero in our eyes.  But when she returned home she was put into a quarantine by the state of New Jersey, for safety precautions. Our hero was outraged, trash talking the state in the news as she was forced to stay away from people for 21 days. Now the people could see the true insides of our hero, was she rightly outraged, or was she overreacting? After all it is a deadly disease that society should be protected from, but she was tested negative for the disease twice already. 
Then there are the heroes of way before the Romans and Greeks, back in the time of the Celts and Geats. The story of Beowulf depicts a hero and is conquest over a number of monsters. The hero of his time was supposed to be superhuman strong and boast about all of his achievements, as Beowulf himself was very much so. This old English literature is commonly referred to as a base or beginning of heroic tales and the archetype of heroes. Beowulf went out, fighting monsters and dragons, which may have influenced the future generations in their need to have an unrealistic monster or Gillian that can only be defeated by these superhuman heroes. Then as the ages went on the heroes evolved and as did their foes. The hubris of the Geat hero turned into a fatal flaw for the future heroes, and is no longer a part of modern days culture. 
After reading this book  and the article I have decided that modern day heroes have evolved gradually and slowly with the times, going through phases to reach where we are from the old heroes like Beowulf. As culture changed and technology evolved, the stories and heroes adapted to change with them, keeping tales of old alive. I think that before the heroes were more a comforting tale to tell people to reassure them, but as times went on the tales became more realistic and some people were able to actually fulfill these deeds. And now in modern day we consider people heroes as many every day people who do these things we admire. They are more now idols than heroes, but maybe these idols are the heroes we truly need in today's society. 

Prison Guard Brutality

Guard and police brutality has always been a touchy subject to discuss. There are many points and factors to take into account when trying to prove a point or make a discussion about this topic. It is in their job description as enforcers of the law to stop people from commuting crimes and to protect society as whole, even if it means using force to disable the criminal. However there comes a point where the officer is no longer protecting society, but is taking advantage of a helpless man or woman. 

One insight on the reality of the situation in prisons was the interview done with Jelpi Picou, an inmate at Orleans Parish Prison. He stated that the prison was in no way up to the legal standards set by the sate for such containment facilities. The guards there ran a drug ring, they encouraged fights, and they took every opportunity they had to inflict harm the prisoners. While the first offense is completely illegal, and the second is the opposite of what they are there to do, the third is what brings up the most controversy. These guards treat the inmates as the scum of the earth, and take the little power they have and blow it out or proportion. They will beat down and inflict bodily harm upon the inmates our of the realm of reason, way beyond the person stopping resisting. Although they are permitted to use force to qualm quarrels, there becomes a point where they are no longer protecting themselves and society, but instead they have become the criminals themselves, beating on a helpless citizen.

This relates to the book the Power of One as to the multiple scenes in the jail where Peekay learns to box. The most obvious connection between this jail and a real life one is when Lieutenant Borman boxes with Geel Piet and kills him. Much like in real life this "incident" goes unnoticed and unreported. These kinds of crimes are, in my opinion, as bad as any crime that can get you into these prisons and jails. This obvious abuse of power is disgusting and should be punished with jail time itself.

Police brutality is another topic that is along the same line of guard brutality, which brings up the current topic of the Micheal Brown in Ferguson. When the police shot the unarmed boy in cold blood, people began to riot in the streets. The injustice of it all, the poor boy was unarmed, he didn't even do anything to offend the officer. But the officer says that the boy was resisting and he needed to use force to protect himself. Doesn't this situation sound just a little familiar? The problem is when it happens behind bars to already convicted criminals it doesn't matter, but if the exact same thing happens to a "free innocent man" then it is the end of the world. 

The difference between these two acts is negligible, and they are both a serious crime that needs to be reprimanded. If the nation were to get together and stand behind fighting guard brutality and abuse like they do for cases like Micheal Brown's, this problem could be solved.