T14 - Heros And Heroines - C 4

I've had a number of people I admired throughout my life. People who stood for something like an idea or a movement or were just able to accomplish things that I couldn't do myself. My tenth grade teacher, a sports figure here and there, a monumental thinker like Einstein.Even if I couldn't understand what they did I COULD understand that what they did was amazing and affected the lives of all of us. Even now I have a hero or two creeping around in my mind, giving me a boost when I think of them.Some people just amaze me!

I guess that the character Max is a bit of a hero figure in the book. Like all heros he has a few character flaws but these defects don't detract from his accomplishments. Maybe some of Max's accomplishments are also dubious. That is, he can cause pain in those who are unprepared. Life is like that. A series of lessons, sometimes painful, at the hands of what? Other people? God? Nature? Our own selves? Do we empathize with tragic characters because we see our own contradictions in them or do we merely feel sympathy or compassion?

I see a little of the heroic in everybody at different times.