Ten Heroic Qualities

I've been thinking about what a hero should be since I read Karen Ball's July 24th blog post on Charis Connection.

I thought about ten of my favorite heroes from movies of 1969 to 2005. The heroes share at least three of my ten favorite qualities that a man should experience.

James Garner's character in Support Your Local Sherriff isn't particularly romantic, but he is quite patient, creative, and smart. A hero doesn't have to be an expert on romance, but he does have to exhibit leadership qualities.

Cary Elwes as Westley in Princess Bride was driven, brave, and caring. He didn't walk around claiming to be a hero, but he was one.

Bill Murray's character in Groundhog Day had no choice but to make changes in his day. In the middle of the story he was driven, but later he was caring and friendly.

In 1995, two movies came out that had very different heroes. But I like both. Bill Pullman's character in While You Were Sleeping was friendly, patient, and driven. Harrison Ford's character in Sabrina was flexible, then caring, then desperate.

Val Kilmer's character in The Saint was creative, brave, and caring. One of the most romantic things about the movie was him remembering her medicine. What was important to her had become important to him.

Tom Hanks in You've Got Mail gave a good example of a friendly, patient and creative hero.

Hugh Grant's character in Notting Hill was friendly and caring, then driven.

Nicholas Cage's character in The Family man was smart, flexible, and desperate.

And last, my favorite movie of 2005: Hitch. Will Smith's character was smart, creative, and vulnerable. He was also desperate at the end. I loved the fun ending.

Each of these heroes is unique, yet displays at least three of my favorite ten heroic qualities.

In my opinion, a hero must be:

brave enough to face the danger,
creative enough to solve the conflicts that arise,
driven enough to keep going against all odds,
patient enough to keep his cool,
friendly enough to attract the heroine,
vulnerable enough to allow his human side to be seen,
flexible enough to change direction when necessary,
caring enough to think of the little important things,
smart enough to make good decisions,
and desperate enough to do anything to get the girl.

2 comments:

Valerie Hudson said...

I think your description is accurate of my hero who was:

brave enough to face the danger of hell for me,
creative enough to solve the conflicts that arise and find a way for grace to work,
driven enough to keep going against all odds of sin and death,
patient enough to keep his cool in the midst of traps and torture,
friendly enough to attract the heroine, the harlot, the fisherman and the tax collector,
vulnerable enough to allow his human side to be seen to suffer on our behalf,
flexible enough to change direction when necessary and remember the intent and not just the letter of the law,
caring enough to think of the little important things like flowers, sparrows, and me,
smart enough to make good decisions to come, abide, teach, die and rise for my sake,
and desperate enough (Webster's definition #5 is "of extreme intensity") to do anything and willing to go to the extreme to get the girl... ME!

Thanks for the reminder.

Domino said...

I hear you loud and clear. The heroes in my stories have to be somewhat similar to Jesus. Otherwise, they're not all that heroic. Jesus is and always will be the Ultimate Hero!

Savior and Lover and Friend
Patient with me until the end
Always there to show the way
Riding a white horse and
Saving the day.