FM June Topic
"True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others, at whatever cost." - Arthur Ashe
People talk about heroes all the time. It's gotten all played out. Just like the word love. Or amazing. Everything these days is supposedly amazing. Makes a girl wonder what in life really is amazing. What love really means outside of all that Hallmark bullshit that's so damn bankable. What a hero really is. 'Cause it's not just some freak with a cape who saves the day with a dramatic flair and then shows up for the parade or whatever. It's not tryin' to get people's attention, or to make them think you're somethin' special just because you did something that's a little bit above and beyond. I've seen Alec at the bar, all big talkin' and tryin' to mack, milkin' it for all it's worth. He could be out rescuin' cats from trees and he'd still spin it for whatever chick he thinks will take his two drink minimum and then follow him home. It's pathetic.
I've been told I'm a hero. Maybe that's true, and maybe it's not. Sure, I've saved some lives. But I've sure as Hell taken a lot of them too. So if there's some kind of cosmic balance book or whatever? It might not be tipped in my favor. I could try and justify by sayin' I only kill bad guys. But if there's a Higher Power, like The Lady that Ben was all about, I don't think it matters much to them why we kill. Just that we do it. I've lied. Stolen. Kicked a lot of ass. If there's some kind of standard that says a hero has to be a saint too, I'm tellin' you, I don't qualify.
And you know, I've fucked it up too. Big time. People are dead because of me. Good people. Transgenics. Promised them they'd be safe and then they end up in some big ass jar like a specimen. Like these unborn kids you see floating in jars of formaldahyde. Tinga. I couldn't save her. Couldn't get there in time. It was too late and she was gone. Nothing I could do then could bring her back and I only got myself captured, by use of lethal force. Which meant I got Zack killed too, because he gave up his heart for me. Mine was useless. I was dead and he saved me. He's the hero, not me. Syl, Krit, Brin. All of them. We were forced out of hiding, hunted down. Some of us came out willingingly to help the others, and some of us were caught. But everything we did was for each other. We never forgot that we'd been a family. Manticore may have mixed us up in a bunch of test tubes, makin' us alone in the world. But they still gave us each other. And we would've and sometimes did give our lives for each other. Even Alec, when Ames White came lookin' for a genocide on the transgenic population. Not that his head needs to be any bigger, but he was pretty heroic. The kind that needs no bar braggin'.
But most of all, when I think of heroism, like the true meaning of the word and it not just bein' thrown around to just describr anyone whose been a little brave, I think about Logan. Without him, I'd have never done half the things I did this last year to help people. Without him, half of Seattle would be pretty fucked actually. He has no reason to make this broken world a better place, other than the obvious fact that it sucks. And yet he does. Without asking for anything in return, without even wanting people to know it's him who does it. And no matter how dangerous it is. Even if it kills him someday. (Like I'm gonna let that happen.)
I guess what I'm tryin' to say is that a real hero doesn't need to name themself. Actions speak louder than words. So heroes usually end up being named.
Max Guevera
Dark Angel
659 Words
People talk about heroes all the time. It's gotten all played out. Just like the word love. Or amazing. Everything these days is supposedly amazing. Makes a girl wonder what in life really is amazing. What love really means outside of all that Hallmark bullshit that's so damn bankable. What a hero really is. 'Cause it's not just some freak with a cape who saves the day with a dramatic flair and then shows up for the parade or whatever. It's not tryin' to get people's attention, or to make them think you're somethin' special just because you did something that's a little bit above and beyond. I've seen Alec at the bar, all big talkin' and tryin' to mack, milkin' it for all it's worth. He could be out rescuin' cats from trees and he'd still spin it for whatever chick he thinks will take his two drink minimum and then follow him home. It's pathetic.
I've been told I'm a hero. Maybe that's true, and maybe it's not. Sure, I've saved some lives. But I've sure as Hell taken a lot of them too. So if there's some kind of cosmic balance book or whatever? It might not be tipped in my favor. I could try and justify by sayin' I only kill bad guys. But if there's a Higher Power, like The Lady that Ben was all about, I don't think it matters much to them why we kill. Just that we do it. I've lied. Stolen. Kicked a lot of ass. If there's some kind of standard that says a hero has to be a saint too, I'm tellin' you, I don't qualify.
And you know, I've fucked it up too. Big time. People are dead because of me. Good people. Transgenics. Promised them they'd be safe and then they end up in some big ass jar like a specimen. Like these unborn kids you see floating in jars of formaldahyde. Tinga. I couldn't save her. Couldn't get there in time. It was too late and she was gone. Nothing I could do then could bring her back and I only got myself captured, by use of lethal force. Which meant I got Zack killed too, because he gave up his heart for me. Mine was useless. I was dead and he saved me. He's the hero, not me. Syl, Krit, Brin. All of them. We were forced out of hiding, hunted down. Some of us came out willingingly to help the others, and some of us were caught. But everything we did was for each other. We never forgot that we'd been a family. Manticore may have mixed us up in a bunch of test tubes, makin' us alone in the world. But they still gave us each other. And we would've and sometimes did give our lives for each other. Even Alec, when Ames White came lookin' for a genocide on the transgenic population. Not that his head needs to be any bigger, but he was pretty heroic. The kind that needs no bar braggin'.
But most of all, when I think of heroism, like the true meaning of the word and it not just bein' thrown around to just describr anyone whose been a little brave, I think about Logan. Without him, I'd have never done half the things I did this last year to help people. Without him, half of Seattle would be pretty fucked actually. He has no reason to make this broken world a better place, other than the obvious fact that it sucks. And yet he does. Without asking for anything in return, without even wanting people to know it's him who does it. And no matter how dangerous it is. Even if it kills him someday. (Like I'm gonna let that happen.)
I guess what I'm tryin' to say is that a real hero doesn't need to name themself. Actions speak louder than words. So heroes usually end up being named.
Max Guevera
Dark Angel
659 Words