My Hero is Lilia Figgins
Throughout history people have made up different epic stories that represent the “ideal” hero. Strength and super powers play a role in these made up stories, but my hero does not possess these qualities. My hero is not a fictional character that was created by the imagination of someone. The person that I consider to be my hero is a real person that did not have to be thought up from imagination because she already represents what a true hero is. My hero is my mother.
In my mother’s life she has proven herself to be inspiring to me and that is why she is what I think about when I picture a hero, rather than picturing Superman or Beowulf. Ever since I was young I had watched her show great unselfishness and hard work in everything she does. She has worked hard all of her life to provide for those she loves. I look up to this because it takes an emotionally strong person to sacrifice their lives such as this for someone other than themselves. Her life has always been a struggle, but she had fought through the hardships so that she can make everyone around her live comfortably. My mother had grown up in poverty in the Philippines and had to be a servant for a wealthy family just so her own family could eat. When she married my father she was able to escape this third world poverty, but she was soon to face other complications once she came to America. She had to work many years at McDonalds so that she would be able to provide a nice home for her only daughter. Her dream was to have her daughter to grow up educated so that she could grow up to be whatever she wanted and not work as hard as she herself had to in life. To care about her own daughter before herself was something that her daughter had looked up to.
Not forgetting about the family left behind in the Philippines, good amounts of my mother’s paychecks were going to them so that they could escape poverty just like she had. Those paychecks had paid for medical expenses, food, and even education for her family. Even once they were educated and have steady careers she had continued to send them money because she would rather give her money to others than spend any of it on herself. This kind of compassion for others is very rare to find in today’s society.
Even though my mother does not have strength that can move a car, she has the strength to inspire someone and even though she does not have the superpowers to see through walls, she has the ability to care for others no matter what her own troubles are. Characteristics such as these make up what a true hero is.