Vern's Volvo

Zelun Wang

Humanities Blog—Vern’s Volvo and Grace the Meticulous Mechanic

This paradox demonstrates the fact that there is no absolute truth—that truth depends on perspective. From one perspective, the heap of original parts is Vern’s Volvo, while from a different point of view Vern’s Volvo is the vehicle that Vern currently drives. That is not to say that both truths exist simultaneously. A person who truly feels that the heap of parts is Vern’s Volvo would not concede that the car Vern currently drives is Vern’s Volvo, and vice versa. Instead, each truth exists separately in its own dimension that is constructed from each distinct perspective.

Let me explain.

People who place less emphasis on material goods and more on practical application would consider Vern’s Volvo to be the vehicle that Vern currently drives. Car owners and enthusiasts alike always feel some possessive attachment to their vehicles. However, that attachment dramatically decreases when the motorists sell or get rid of their cars. People who sell their vehicles do not come across it again, parked in the street, and say, “Hey, that’s my car”. They may acknowledge that they once owned and operated that vehicle, but they would no longer consider that car to be theirs’ because the car is no longer part of their lives. For people who hold this point of view, there is no single moment when Vern’s Volvo changed. Vern’s Volvo exists in a dynamic state—every time Vern brings his car to the garage, a little bit of Vern’s Volvo is changed, but the vehicle that Vern uses on a daily basis remains his Volvo.

On the other hand, people who care more about genuine materials—examples of such people may be coin collectors or purchasers of original art—would consider the pile of parts to be Vern’s Volvo. From the material perspective, the original vehicle is the “real thing,” regardless of Vern’s relationship with his car. People looking at this question from a physical point of view would put less thought into how Vern interacts with his car, and more focus on the fact that the pile of parts in Grace’s garage was the original vehicle that Vern purchased. People of this point of view would certainly agree that by the time every part of Vern’s Volvo has been replaced, Vern’s Volvo did change—the car Vern currently drives is no longer the original Volvo. But again, it is hard to define an exact time when the Volvo changed. Is it when Grace replaces the most expensive part—the engine or the transmission? Is it when Grace changes the body frame of the car? No. The overall change is significant, but this change occurs in tiny steps—part by part (thanks to the assembly line process). The concept of the change of Vern’s Volvo from the material point of view is not unlike the concept of the derivative (or conversely the integral) in calculus—that the mathematical change occurs in infinitely small steps, but adding an infinite number of those steps together results in a significant, measurable overall change (This one’s for you Tyler). Thus we cannot assign one moment that Vern’s Volvo became different, but can only look at the overall change.

I will re-emphasize that the two separate versions of truth are mutually exclusive. Although given my above explanation readers might accuse me of settling with a feeble compromise that results in both Vern’s current car and the pile of parts being “Vern’s Volvo,” such is not the case. At no point in my argument do I say that both entities are “Vern’s Volvo”. Instead, either the pile of parts OR the vehicle that Vern currently drives IS THE “Vern’s Volvo”. Indeed, only one of the two can be Vern’s Volvo from any perspective: From the materialist perspective, the original parts and not the currently used vehicle is Vern’s Volvo; and from the less physical and more practical perspective, the car that gets Vern to work every day is Vern’s Volvo, as opposed to the idle pile of parts. It is true that people may not be polarized into opposite groups adopting solely the “materialist perspective” or the “practical perspective” when thinking about this question. It would not be at all surprising if individuals find merit in both perspectives. However, looking from any given perspective at any one time, people would conclude that Vern’s Volvo is either the car he drives or the original pile of parts, not both. While a person may agree with multiple perspectives, the two perspectives I have outlined are different and distinct and so it is impossible to blend the perspectives and say that Vern’s Volvo exists in two bodies at the same time. A person can only ponder this question from one perspective at a time, although he is free to change his perspective as frequently as he likes.

The discrepancy between the pile of parts in Grace’s garage and a functioning vehicle assembled from those parts is a minor one. If Grace is such a qualified mechanic, she should have no trouble putting together and taking apart the car at her pleasure, and so the difference between the pile of parts and the reassembled vehicle disappears in terms of this paradox. HOWEVER, if Vern then goes and drives the reassembled vehicle, then the question becomes much more convoluted. Let us stay away from this possibility, at least for now.

Know Thyself

a) It is difficult for a person to have a complete knowledge of himself. A person’s identity is made up of various values and experiences that cannot be summed up in a few sentences. I have had considerable difficulty these past few weeks trying to answer the general question, “Tell me about yourself,” that college interviewers so often pose. Thus, the most practical application of the phrase “Know thyself” is to be aware of one’s own specific strengths and weaknesses.

It is easy to illustrate the advantages of knowing one’s own strengths. By their senior year, most high school students will have discovered—through taking a diverse set of courses—which academic subjects they are strongest in. It makes sense that high school students who are most interested and proficient in math and science will contribute most to the world by pursuing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers, while other students better at history and language arts would have greater success studying the humanities. Understanding one’s own academic strengths can lead to a more comfortable and productive life in the future.

It is equally as important for one to be aware of one’s own weaknesses, and to purposely avoid situations in which those weaknesses may cause harm. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet shows how knowing one’s own weaknesses can keep one out of trouble by demonstrating what happens when people do not know their own weaknesses. In the play, characters such as Romeo, Mercutio and Tybalt are violent and rash by nature, as established through various details—for example, Romeo’s fickle love interest and Mercutio’s bizarre spoken lines. The characters are not aware of their propensities for violence, but rush into confrontational situations that ultimately result in their deaths. We, as the audience, cannot say how the play would have ended if the characters were more aware of their own violence. But it is tempting to imagine that if Romeo, Tybalt and Mercutio understood their tendencies to fight, they may have avoided confrontation altogether and lived longer, more fulfilling lives.

b) My greatest weakness in school is procrastination. To illustrate: during my sophomore year in high school, I worked on a science project involving Baker's yeast. I had two months to work on this project. I did not save everything for the last minute—I finished the experimental portion of the project about a month before I was scheduled to present. However, I also needed to analyze the data using statistical analysis techniques (which I did not know how to use), make a PowerPoint presentation, and create a poster board display. My error was in waiting until the night before my presentation to even begin the data analysis. To make things worse, I watched videos on Hulu.com until 9:00 pm before opening the Excel file containing my data. I did not finish the data analysis and PowerPoint work until well past midnight, and then I had to print, cut, and glue pictures and text blurbs onto my poster board. I ended up pulling what is colloquially known as an "all-nighter". For those of you who have never stayed up all night working on an assignment: it is not an enjoyable experience. I felt terrible presenting my project the next day and embarrassed myself in front of the entire class by forgetting to mention important parts of my research. Obviously, this episode was not the first time I procrastinated, but my “all-nighter” experience is my most unpleasant memory associated with procrastination.

I have tried many times to fix my procrastination problem without real success. At one point in my high school career, I deleted my Facebook account because I wasted a lot of time chatting with friends on the Internet. However, I ended up finding an excuse to reactivate my Facebook (I had no other way to ask a friend when an essay was due). I also tried to get into the habit of starting homework the moment I get home from school, but frequent snack breaks and ever-present distractions foiled my efforts at industry.

I realize that my procrastination is going to be a very serious problem in college, where I would have more flexibility to manage my own time and even more distractions to deal with. By now, I have identified this personal weakness that I need to address and hopefully remedy by the end of high school. I will not stop trying to end my procrastination problem. Maybe I need to shut myself in a computer-free room with only a desk, a lamp, and a textbook. Or perhaps I need to go to a library immediately after school to minimize distractions. No matter what method I use to stop procrastinating, my efforts to improve would not exist if I were not aware of my weakness.

c) I consider my easy-going nature to be a positive quality, although my relaxed nature may be responsible for my procrastination. I rarely stress about anything. Although pulling an “all-nighter” on a science project was unpleasant, at no point was I worried that I would not complete the assignment. I rarely worry about exams the way many of my peers do, whether I expect to do well on the tests or not. Stressing before a test does not help test performance, and I find that my laid-back nature allows me to do my best work under the circumstances.

My relaxed nature allows me to work well with other people. I really enjoy doing group projects. I can usually contribute by reassuring fellow group members when they begin to worry about deadlines, or by calmly settling disagreements that spawn from the stress of the work.

I am also very relaxed socially. We have all undoubtedly seen the “bar fight” scene in movies, when one man insults another man and smashed beer bottles become melee weapons. While I am firm about my values, I am slow to anger. If I were in a confrontational situation in a bar, I would look my adversary in the eye and walk away like a real man. In a sense, I am the opposite of the teenagers in Romeo and Juliet. I think about the consequences before I let my passions guide me in doing something foolish.

d) I feel that objectively reflecting on one’s own strengths and weaknesses is difficult because one’s pride often blurs one’s self-examination. Personal experiences related to one’s particular weakness may be embarrassing or painful. Interestingly, one’s own psyche can distort such emotional memory. Furthermore, recalling such episodes in one’s life may elicit emotions that further muddle one’s attempt at objectively writing about one’s weakness. Something similar occurs with strengths. Instead of unpleasant emotion, pride may embellish memories of times when one displayed one’s strengths.

I certainly do not like talking about myself, especially about my strengths and weaknesses. In fact, the strengths and weaknesses I talked about here are not my “greatest” strengths and weaknesses, though they would probably come in second in each category. I do not feel comfortable talking about what I consider to be my greatest strength, and if I tried to write about my greatest weakness I may just end up sobbing over the keyboard and never finishing this blog. I understand the importance of knowing—and dealing with—my true weakness. But this weakness is something that I have to overcome by myself, without the sympathy of the entire Internet.

Eden is that old-fashioned house

At the beginning of human history according to the Jewish tradition, Adam and Eve took paradise for granted. No lines from the first several chapters of Genesis suggest that Adam and Eve appreciated their ideal surroundings and abundance of nourishment: a place where “Of every tree of the garden [Adam and Eve] mayest freely eat,” (Genesis 2: 16) minus from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the innocent state before receiving knowledge from the fruit, humans did not have the ability to reflect upon their lives.

Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Eden is that old fashioned house,” is a commentary on secular life that was inspired by the tale of Eden. Just as Adam and Eve did not truly understand how blessed they were to be living in paradise, people in general tend not to appreciate the homes that they “dwell in every day,” (Dickinson)—homes being not only the physical comforts but also people who are loving and supportive. Dickinson’s use of the words “old-fashioned” and “abode” elicit a feeling of quaint comfort associated with this familiar home. Surely Adam and Eve’s home in the Garden of Eden must have been very comfortable. Yet, they do not “suspect,” (Dickinson) or think about the situation that they are in until they are banished from Eden. It is not explicitly written in Genesis, but one can infer that man and woman (now armed with knowledge) realized and longed for their easy lives in Eden after hearing about the pains of childbearing and of food cultivation (Genesis 3:16-19).

Dickinson’s poem expresses my feelings about the home that I live in as I prepare to leave for college. I have not lived in the same physical location for very long—I moved to my current house during freshman year. But I do feel an attachment to my “home” as a condition in which I can trust my parents to take care of me. Like how Adam and Eve did not realize the relative ease of their lives while in Eden, I had not really appreciated how much my parents do for me daily until the start of my senior year. I always ate the food on the table without thinking about where it came from. I slept in a warm bed inside of a heated house (or air-conditioned, during summer) without considering the utility costs. I sent text messages without regard to the cellular bill. Several recent changes in my life got me thinking about how easy my life is thanks to my parents’ generosity. I got a job lifeguarding at a pool, and my meager wages foreshadow how difficult life would be when I have to move out of my parents’ house and pay for my own car insurance. I also started to learn how to cook because I realized that I will not be able to taste my mother’s dishes for much longer. Similar to how Adam and Eve must have truly understood what they were losing when they left Eden, I am just beginning to appreciate how wonderful my life has been in my “old-fashioned House” as I prepare to “drive away” (Dickinson) to college.

I would not say that Adam and Eve “sauntered” from Eden, as Dickinson writes in her poem. The word “saunter” implies a leisurely, relaxed walk. In contrast, God forced Adam and Eve to leave paradise. Also, Dickinson writes that when we leave our homes, we are “unconscious our returning,” meaning that we do not think about the prospect of returning to that home, but neither do we completely rule out the possibility. I think the case of Adam and Eve is incongruent with Dickinson’s description: after humans had sinned, they could not possibly have imagined that the wrathful God would allow them to return to Eden. The last line of Dickinson’s poem better describes the Genesis situation: if Adam and Eve had tried to return to their home in Eden, they would have “discover[ed] it no more” (Dickinson). Even though the garden was still physically there, God had placed Cherubims and a flaming sword (Genesis 3:24) to guard Eden, and thus Adam and Eve could not have looked to Eden as a home anymore.

Dickinson’s use of the word “sauntered” better describes my current situation. Unlike some of my peers, I am not overly zealous about going off to college. Nor am I very reluctant to leave my current life and start something new. Many years from now, when I look back on my transition from high school to college, I will most likely use words such as “chill” or “casual” to describe me leaving home. In other words, I will probably not be thinking about the implications of leaving home. The reason is that I will expect to be able to frequently return home on breaks and during summer vacation, so I will not be giving these return trips (or even me leaving in the first place) too much thought. As Dickinson puts it, I will be “Unconscious [of my] returning”. But the truth is that I will no longer find a home under the care of my parents: I will “discover it no more” (Dickinson). I may be able to stay with my parents for several weeks to mooch off of their resources, but I know that my parents would not accept me into their household for an extended amount of time. While a new category of young adults known as the “Twixters” (people who have graduated from college but continue to live with their parents) is emerging in American society, I know that my parents would not tolerate me living like that. They would expect me to go out into the world and fight for my own living, and so this year before college is truly the last year that I can identify my parents’ household as my “home”.

I am actually more concerned for my parents after I leave home than for myself. I fear that my absence would dramatically change the way they live their daily lives. I am an only child, so much of what my parents do is related, in one way or another, to me. What would happen when I am gone? Already, I can see some negative trends developing as my parents prepare for my departure. Both my parents now spend a considerable amount of their free time watching tasteless Chinese dramas and game shows online. My mother has also begun to develop a mild obsession with interior decorating (her favorite shops now are A.C. Moore and Christmas Tree Shop). What would happen to my mother and father after I leave, and they have nothing to do with their time? My parents talk about moving back to China to start doing business. But do they not realize that they do not have the knack for business? They have been honest hard workers throughout their entire careers. The best I can hope for is that my parents discover new passions or hobbies (such as fishing or photography) that would productively take up their free time as well as strengthen the bond of their marriage. I hope that after I leave, my parents will be able to redefine their own “home” that can be productive without me being part of it.

Advice

“Deal with it,” says Todd Rainey, coach of Amity High School’s varsity swim teams. These three simple words make up the best piece of advice that anyone has ever given me. Calves sore? Deal with it! The bathroom in the pool locker of the opponent school does not have toilet paper? Deal with it! Oh, you don’t want to swim the individual medley? Deal with it! For me, these three words have meaning beyond high school aquatics. Coach Rainey’s intimidating voice reminds me that whenever I face an obstacle, I need to stop complaining, find a solution, and work toward what I want to achieve.

I started to play guitar at the beginning of my high school freshman year. I decided to learn guitar because I needed a skill that I can impress people with. In middle school, the guitar players got all the attention. No one cared about clarinet players or flutists. I remember watching enviously as groups of students crowded around Rex, the guitar prodigy who seemed to know how to play every song on the radio. I wanted that kind of attention, so I decided it was time for me to pick up guitar. I started by learning some chords, then moved onto riffs, and eventually hammered out several songs.

The school’s annual Cabaret Coffeehouse concert was coming up, and there was no better time to show off my undiscovered guitar skills. I confidently walked into the chorus room after school on the day of auditions with brand new strings on my acoustic guitar. “What song will you be playing for us today?” asked Mr. Dylan, the music department chair. “Stairway to Heaven,” I replied. I sat down and started plucking the strings, beginning with the A minor chord and moving through the B major, the G major, the D and the F. After the intro, I began strumming the chords and started to sing, “There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold…” Before I knew it, the song was over and I was standing up to give a slight bow. “You have a wonderful voice,” Mr. Dylan said, “The set list will be posted in the band room tomorrow morning. Thank you for your performance.” Sure that I got into Coffeehouse, I smiled all the way home in the car.

As soon as I got off the bus the next morning, I rushed to the band room to look at the set list for Coffeehouse. This can’t be right, I thought. My name is not on here. Was I looking at the right list? It slowly dawned on me that I did not make the cut. Everything else vanished from my thoughts, leaving only the realization that I won’t be performing in Coffeehouse. I slowly slouch over to Mr. Dylan’s office. “What did I do wrong,” I asked, “Didn’t you like my voice? Was it the song selection?” Mr. Dylan patiently tells me that it was my guitar playing. Apparently, I couldn’t change chords fast enough. And each time I played a barre chord, I couldn’t press the strings down hard enough, so the notes rattled. “That would sound really bad through the speaker system,” says Mr. Dylan.

I went home and wanted to cry. More than anything else, I was mad. Mad at factors beyond my control. I should have made Coffeehouse. It was not fair. It wasn’t my fault that my fingers weren’t strong enough to hold down barre chords! I hadn’t been playing guitar for 23423 years like the other kids, so I hadn’t had the chance to develop those muscles in the fingers. And it wasn’t my fault that my guitar skills seemed dull in comparison with kids like Rex. My parents wouldn’t let me take guitar lessons, although I had begged on hands and knees for them to find me a teacher; they did not think music was important. I would have learned to change chords faster if I took lessons!

These thoughts repeatedly returned to my mind as I trudged through the rest of the week, snapping at everyone who tried to cheer me up. I alternated between feeling sorry for myself and being angry at the world. I did not touch my guitar at all that week, and I basically gave up the hope of impressing anyone with guitar.

One day, Coach Rainey’s words popped into my head. Deal with it. I began to think about my predicament. Whether it was my fault that my guitar performance was spotty, the situation remained the same. I did not get into Coffeehouse. Being upset about how unfair life is would not make anything better. Rainey’s words made me realize that I needed to throw away all excuses and face my problem. I stank at guitar, so what could I do to change that? I made a plan to improve my guitar skills. I did hand strength exercises with a stress ball so that I could hold down barre chords. I practiced daily to master my chord change.

I also took this opportunity to reflect upon my motivation for playing guitar. Why should I do something to please others? For the first time since I started playing the guitar, I played because I enjoyed making music, not because I wanted to show off. When Coffeehouse came around again next year and I still did not make it, I did not despair. I had no reason to be upset, since I auditioned for my own enjoyment. Furthermore, I did not make excuses for my inadequate performance. I just needed to deal with my failure and keep practicing until next year.

Coach Rainey’s advice taught me to be strong when I face an obstacle and to overcome it. This advice is so valuable because in life, I am going to face obstacles much greater than a sore calve or failing an audition. When these problems arrive, I must persevere and not be bogged down by excuses if I want to succeed. I have gotten much better at guitar since my first audition, and my hard work has certainly paid off. I am performing “Rockstar” with Rex at this year’s Cabaret Coffeehouse. By the time you read this, I will already have succeeded!

Disclaimer: Parts of this narrative are fictional, including the characters.

Utnapishtim Replies

People have been conflicted over the ephemeral quality of human life since the beginning of civilization. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim frankly tells Gilgamesh (who is searching for the answer to eternal life) that “There is no permanence” (106). Indeed, human life is temporary. Death is a natural part of life. A person is born into the world. He or she then lives for a certain number of days before passing away. Although he or she may accomplish something so that his or her name is written in history (in glory or infamy), however he or she lives his or her life is insignificant when put in context of the vastness of eternity. Let us use an analogy. In the expression x + 1, the value of the 1 as x becomes infinitely large is insignificant. That 1 represents the life and actions of one person. This person’s actions may be significant during the brief span of his life (when x equals a relatively small number such as 2,3,18, or 97) but ultimately the person’s actions are not eternal. The same can be said about civilizations. Each of the major empires in history (the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and the Romans, to name a few) saw its rise, its temporary reign, and then its demise.

Our world best illustrates our notion of human impermanence through literature and media. People know that human life is temporary, and creators of culture embrace this concept. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of Le Petit Prince, does not hesitate to introduce the idea of impermanence to young readers. In Le Petit Prince, the little prince encounters a geographer and asks whether the geographer records the flower, “the most beautiful thing on [the] planet,” to which the geographer replies, no, “because they are ephemeral…in danger of speedy disappearance” (Chapter 15). The flower represents good things and life itself, and Exupéry communicates that life is only temporary, no matter how much we want it to be lasting.

Above all else, our knowledge of the ephemeral quality of life, of the fact that there looms on the horizon a day when life will end, emphasizes that life is short and fleeting. The song “Circle of Life” from The Lion King voices the idea that life is too short, that “There's more to see than can ever be seen/ More to do than can ever be done” (Rice). These lines express our regret that there is not enough time in our lives to experience everything we want. This truth was evident to the Babylonian writers. Even before Gilgamesh embarks on his search for eternal life, he knew that his “days are numbered,” (71) that he could not afford to waste his life away in idleness and must instead seek out adventure by pursuing Humbaba.

Since life is so short and so insignificant, why do we bother living our daily lives? There has to be a meaning to living. I think that Gilgamesh’s search for eternal life represents our search for the reason why. No, the answer is not 42. Some people are motivated by the need to make accomplishments. Many scholars live through their work or research, hoping to make discoveries that both benefit humanity and go down in the books of history. Such sentiment is similar to Gilgamesh’s when he decides to go on the Forest Journey, when he expresses desire to “[establish his] name stamped on bricks…in the place where the names of famous men are written” (70). Other people find the meaning of life (and consequently, the motivation to stay alive) in love.

Love (giving or receiving it) can make us feel like we matter and therefore eternal. In the musical “Rent,” the characters are afflicted with AIDS and likely have less than a year to live. In the song “Seasons of Love” from this musical, the lyrics, “measure your life in love,” convey the idea that, although the characters might only have “five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes” (Larson) left to live, the love between the friends makes them significant to each other.

In perhaps the most famous quotation from Gilgamesh, Siduri the woman of the vine advises Gilgamesh (and the readers) to “cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace” (102). Thus emerges a picture of how humans should approach life. The best way to feel like you matter, to feel like anything you do has any eternal significance, is to strive to love those around you. This answer may not satisfy everyone seeking the meaning of life, but it does provide a general direction for a fulfilled life in which what people do has any lasting effect on those around them.

Works Cited

The Epic of Gilgamesh (English). London: Penguin Books, 1972

Larson, Jonathan. “Seasons of Love”. Rent OCR. 1996.

Rice, Tim. “Circle of Life”. The Lion King Soundtrack. 1994.

Saint-Exupery, Antoine de. Le Petit Prince (English). : Reynal & Hitchcock , 1943.

Thinking About the Hero

Works like The Odyssey, Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars are similar in that they all center around protagonists who fight against powerful sources of evil. In The Odyssey, Odysseus’ crew struggles against adversaries like the Sirens and Polyphemus the Cyclops. Similarly, Frodo Baggins and his friends risk their lives to destroy the Ring that symbolizes evil in Tolkien’s trilogy. And who can forget the battles of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo against Darth Vader’s threatening Empire in Star Wars?

Yet, whether these protagonists can be called heroes is up for debate. Everyone has his/her own idea of what a hero is supposed to be. In my opinion, a person or character must meet several standards in order to deserve the title “hero”. A hero must know what is right and take action toward that end. A hero must also be driven by unselfish motives. Furthermore, a hero’s actions must benefit his/her community. Someone should only be considered heroic if what he/she does is exceptional and uncommon (for those of you who contend that there are many “everyday heroes,” I clarify that the actions of these “everyday heroes” certainly are outstanding). Finally, a true hero must have an appropriate amount of humility.

Heroic action is any act that fits the qualifications above. Now let us evaluate the protagonists in the aforementioned works. I would not consider Odysseus a hero—while his actions reflect his primary goal of getting his crew back home safely, Odysseus’ pride (hubris) leads to the death of his entire crew. On the other hand, Frodo and friends certainly are heroes. Although there are certain sidetracks on their journey, Frodo’s humble crew was focused on the unselfish objective of destroying the ring and bringing peace to Middle-Earth. The plot of Star Wars is too confusing for me to discuss as a whole (and I admit that I have not seen all the movies), so if anyone would like to help me out here, leave a comment please. The definition of a hero varies from person to person. Someone can contradict me and say that Odysseus is a hero, and after listening to his/her explanation, I may or may not agree with him/her.

Let us talk about a topic that cannot be disagreed upon—the idea of the heroine. Women can certainly be heroes. There is nothing about the female gender that prevents women from being considered heroes under my standards (listed above) or any standards, for that matter. The reason that women are depicted as heroes less frequently than men in literature is this: many cultures diminish the role of women. Ever since Neolithic times, when people first began to live in settled communities, women have been relegated to household duties such as child-rearing while “men assumed the chief positions in public life” (Cannistraro and Reich 11). Still, there are numerous examples of heroine in literature, such as Esther from the Old Testament.

Heroes serve as role models for our day-to-day conduct. While not all of us may have the opportunity to make life-risking decisions or take outstandingly courageous action, there are changes that we can make in our everyday actions to make us more like heroes. One thing we can do is to think about the greater consequences of our actions—is what we are about to do going to benefit people around us or harm them? We should also examine our motives for doing good works—helping others simply for recognition is not heroic. We should also remember to be humble about our achievements. These simple guidelines can help us to grow as individuals as well as support each other in the community.

We need heroes among us precisely because most of us do not put in the effort to behave according to what I wrote in the previous paragraph. We are often too selfish to go out of our comfort zones to help other people. Even when we do act in ways beneficial to our peers, we often mar our charity by bragging. We need the few truly heroic people around us to remind us, through their actions, how we should be living.

I interpret Brecht’s quotation “Unhappy the land that needs heroes” in two ways. My first reaction was that a land that needs heroes must have something wrong in it that needs correcting, and therefore the people of this land are suffering to some degree. Secondly and more significantly, a “hero” in a community may not be a blessing, depending on how one defines hero. I think that a “hero” according to my definition would in most cases benefit a community. However, a “hero” defined in other ways (such as simply someone gifted with great power and courage) can certainly be a nuisance to people around him/her.

I am going to take a wild guess and say that this discussion on the concept of heroes leads into our study of “Gilgamesh”. From a literary point of view, Gilgamesh certainly is the hero of the epic. However, although Gilgamesh and Enkidu display courage when fighting against forces of evil such as Humbaba, Gilgamesh behaves in a way that is harmful to the people of Uruk. One passage from “Gilgamesh” describes him as such:

Gilgamesh sounds the tocsin for his amusement, his arrogance has no bounds by day or night. No son is left with his father, for Gilgamesh takes them all, even the children; yet the king should be a shepherd to his people. His lust leaves no virgin to her lover, neither the warrior’s daughter nor the wife of the noble” (62).

This quotation paints king Gilgamesh as an arrogant tyrant who terrorizes his people just because he has the power to do so. According to this description, Gilgamesh does not fit my definition of a “hero”, and a land dominated by such a “hero” is certainly unhappy.

Works Cited

Cannistraro, Philip V and Reich, John J. The Western Perspective-Volume I Second Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2004.

The Epic of Gilgamesh (English). London: Penguin Books, 1972