World of impermanence

Change is what we fear the most as humans. It is something that might have a short or long term effect on anything; it is something that is not desirable by most of the people in the world. Even though we might fear it, it is what makes us who we are right now.

Change comes through experience. One cannot change without going through a drastic experience in their lives. For example, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh is searching for immortality because Enkidu, his brother and his lover, died. This event changed Gilgamesh completely. He felt like his other half was missing, like there was no one there to encourage him to do all his brave actions. Therefore he wanted to become immortal, because he did not accept the change, which was the fact that Enkidu was dead and that he could not get him back. In the end, after his unsuccessful search, he accepts his own immortality. So what does this mean for humanity?

The sentence in the Epic of Gilgamesh "There is no permanence", has a lot of meaning in the book as well as in the real world. In the book one can see how things do not remain the same for a long perios of time. For example, Humbaba, the guardian of the Cedar Forest for many years, was killed by Gilgamesh. The most obvious change in the epic was the death of Enkidu, which completely changed Gilgamesh's life. Changes like these are easily seen in the book and they are very similar in the real world. Nothing in our lives stays the same. People are always dying, valuable things are being destoyed, many things are not going to look like what they used to in the past. What this means for humanity in general is that we are going to become extinct.

As said before, nothing lasts forever. Everything has an end and it is inevitable. Us humans are going to die and there is going to come a point were only a few of us will be fighting for survival. Whether it is evolution and just pure destiny, ther is going to be an end to our species. This notion of impermanence is illustrated by us humans in many ways. For example, wars. We kill ourselves and on top of that stupidity we destroy what we consider valuable and historic. The Middle East, places like Iraq, are never going to look the same and they never be able to rebuild all their beautifully created buildings. Things that date back to the start of civilization destroyed.

All these things happen around us, but we don't really seem to care about permanence in the world. One part of it is that sometimes we don't even have control over it, but another part is that people do not live their lives thinking about their immortality. We know we were not placed permanently in this world and that is up to us to make whatever we want out of our lives. So if it's up to us to do what we please with our lives, then what is our purpose here? What are we suppose to do?What gives us meaning in life?

As we all know this question does not have a clear answer because it depends on what you believe and what you value the most. My belief is that what you do, the choices you make, defines you and gives you meaning in life. The effect you have on people's lives is what gives you meaning in life. It is what you do that makes everything meaningful, and at the same time it might also make you immortal.

People think that immortality can never be achieved, but it sure can. On day I lost lost my sister right after she was born. She came out fine, but she was not breathing. After taking her to the hospital, a couple hours later she died. I will never be able to forget that precious baby that left my world the same day she was born. Her name will never be forgotten by those who saw her. Right there she became immortal, even though she is not literary here. People who really make a difference in ones life immediately become immortal because you will always be remmembered. That's what's beautiful about life.

Heroes

Authors around the world have found a common definition for a hero that is accepted by society. In books and novels a hero is always portrayed as a strong and powerful man, fearless and determined. Beowulf, The Odyssey, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are great examples of this common definition of a hero. Usually heroes go off on a journey to fight evil and at the end they would end up with whatever they wanted, plus the love of the people. This idealistic view of a hero is shared amongst us all, no matter where your from or what language you speak. But are they truly heroes?

In our world heroes come in all shapes and sizes, ranging form Superman, Aqua man, or El Zorro. What qualifies them as heroes are the qualities that they have. They are all invincible, they have super powers, super strength, and most of them are good-looking. But is that all you need to be a hero?

A hero is someone who is willing to sacrifice something highly valued for the sake of helping, someone who has intrepidity, someone with courage, bravery, conviction, selflessness, dedication, loyalty, perseverance, etc... A hero is somebody who dedicates their time to something, but wants nothing in return. A true hero is somebody, anybody, men or woman, who can make a change in this world without using any superpowers.

Humans all around the world have different people that they consider to be heroes. Here in the U.S. we consider Martin Luther King Jr. a hero. We consider Rosa Parks to be a hero; we also consider September 11 firefighters to be heroes. Other heroes recognized worldwide are Mahatma Gandhi, also known as the "father of the nation", and Che Guevara, also known as "El Che".

These world icons were not classified as heroes only for what they have done, but also because they serve a purpose to us as humans. To humans these worldwide heroes are role models that push us to be better people and to always reach our goals, no matter how many obstacles we have to face. They give us hope and encourage us to make a change in the world. Therefore we do need them, because we cannot wait on the world to change by itself. We are the ones who are going to make the change, and thanks to them we know where to start and how to succeed.

There are also people who might think that we do not need heroes in our world. For example, Bertold Brecht once said, "Unhappy the land that needs heroes." From my understanding of what makes a hero, that statement is false. We need people in our world to look up to; somebody who is better than us so we can strive to be better than them. Heroes and icons play a huge role in our lives. Whether or not they have done the same things or even shared the same ideas, everybody has one and everybody needs one.