Heroism

I guess, every boy has the feeling of being a hero in their hearts. Some people admire those 'heroic' heros, like Hercules, muscular and bravo.. Some will admire those who sacrifise such as Yue Fei (岳飛). Some heros are calm and intellectual, like Zhuge Liang (諸葛亮) who was talented but served his master until his last breath of his life. Some heros are romantic as well, such as Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings.

In Chinese, there are a few words related to "hero". Of course, the most common one is yīng xióng, which is known by the movie. Another word is xiá (俠), some English translation is the 'chivalrous warrior'. For me, it seems like the two terms have some differences in the meaning. I guess the former focuses on the archeivement that a yīng xióng has done. On the contrast, the later focuses on the virture of the person.

For being a "xiá", he can be a great "xiá" (or a small one?). In Jin Yung (金庸)'s Wu Xia (Martial Arts) novels. One of the most famous characters, Gwor Zhin (郭靖), said this before:

"為國為民,俠之大者"

It means "For the man has a heart for his people and his country, he is the great one among the heros". To be a great hero (大俠), he has to have a heart of sacrificial love for others, and virtues to persist. These are the great heros for full respects.

For us, "how should we then live?" Where and which are our country and our people? We are in God's kingdom. Our lives should also focus in "為國為民" (for our 'country', for our people) "For our people", it does not mean only for the people who are Christians already. We should also live for people who are not Christian yet. To show our 'virtues' that are transformed by our Saviour, and to persist and resist the evil of the world. Evil does not always come in horrible ways. Sometime evil sneaks in by an attravtive appearance and tempts us when we are unguarded. For a hero, he may not afraid of a dragon. However, if there is no dragon to kill and no princess to be rescued, or a friend to be protected, the hero may 'decay' by himself (That is the story of Caramon in Dragonlance series). This is one of the very handy tricks of Satan, instead of percecuting us, just give us a good life so we will be 'soften'.

For us, we should keep alert, and keep our eyes fixed on our ultimate Great Hero. The one who defeat evil by His own sacrificial love. For He is our King and our Lord, we should mimic Him and live for our Lord, our kingdom and our people.