Heroes and Villains

Heroes & Villains

Final Paper

When I started writing this paper, even when I just started thinking about this paper, I got extremely frustrated. Not because I was worried I wouldn't be a good job on it, but I couldn't think of a hero I truly wanted to write about. I thought of professional athletes like Lenny Dykstra, Darren Daulton, Mike Schmidt, Brian Dawkins, Jeremiah Trotter, Brian Westbrook, Allen Iverson, Eric Lindros, and Reggie White. I thought of musicians like Ozzy Osbourne, Kid Rock, Violent J of ICP, Jamie Madrox of Twiztid, Uncle Kracker, Jonathon Davis of Korn, Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and Henry Rollins. I also thought of actors and comedians like Andrew Dice Clay, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Leonardo DiCaprio, Seth Green, and Chris Rock. Then I started to ask myself, are they really heroes? And then I asked myself, what's the criteria for a hero? By all classic reasoning, most of the people I thought of do not meet the criteria for what a hero should be. Maybe they can be considered role models, but still that does not constitute a hero. A hero is a person with greatness, courage, respect, who is humble, grateful, honest and noble. They do not have to be famous, they do not have to impact the entire population, just one person. If a person can change the life of another by their actions, words or teachings, then by all means that is a hero at least to that one person.

Miss Patricia Platt, now Mrs. Mal, is a teacher at Sun Valley High School in Aston, Pennsylvania. When I came into high school, I was a slacker, an outcast, and a class clown. I had no aspirations of being the best in schoolwork, it didn't matter to me. I had no plans for college, it was a waste of time. I was just trying to make it through high school and quick as possible. Until I was enrolled into a history course based on American history starting in the early 1900's. it seemed like an average class, there were some kids I had never seen before, there were a couple of my friends, and then there the rest of the kids who I knew, but didn't associate with them. Then the class itself, we got our text books, we got our seating arrangements, we got a simple syllabus, same old, same old. Then I'm not sure why, I'm not sure how, but I became fascinated with the material. I was genuinely interested in learning about the history of the United States. The way Ms. Platt taught, the way she was laid back enough to let us to enjoy the class, but stern and smart enough to keep us in line, the way she taught was not just another boring lecture after boring lecture. She had a passion