The way of the peaceful warrior Essay

Many think being a hero is having super powers, but on the contrary it's more than that. A hero is one who is distinguished for their courage and bravery, and looked upon for their great deeds. A hero like this is not just found in modern society today, but in mythology as well. In the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus earns the title of a true hero by conveying many qualities such as: determination, courage and leadership.

Since long ago, people carried an image of what it means to be a hero. It is evident in some great books one might even say. As in The Epic of Gilgamesh, Antigone, and The Iliad, heroism is displayed and exalted, but what does being a hero mean? Overarchingly, in regards to these works, the heroes earn their titles as heroes by notably doing what is right when the time is right, with humane purpose, and an everlasting message. However, Gilgamesh, Antigone, and Akhilleus, being different in their purposes, everlasting messages, type of heroism as whole, can not compare in regards to heroic status.

The American “way of war” is primarily based on the American interpretation of the national fundamentals and values to include capitalism and basic freedoms surrounding financial enterprising as applied in the democratic system. Along with these ideals concerning free marketing and democracy, the American “way of war” seeks to reinforce alliances with nations that uphold similar concepts and values through international trade and commerce. In doing so, the United States intrinsically denounces political ideologies that are contradictory, such as communism.

People have been fascinated by tales of heroism for centuries. In ancient Mesopotamia, heroes give people hope and comfort, and fill them with strength. Ancient Mesopotamia is filled with tales of heroes- mighty warriors battling monsters, men ready to risk life and limb to save their true love or to fight for their nation. Still, there is a great difficulty that lies in defining what a hero truly is. Strength alone does not make a hero; nor does intelligence. Moreover, the Epic of Gilgamesh truly defines the definition of a hero. Gilgamesh is portrayed as a true hero through his skill, intelligence, willingness to die, reverence, and his respect for death.

In this chapter, we learn some basic things about the main character, Melba, and we know that she is born on December 7th, 1941. Melba's birth was a complicated one, but she eventually made a full recovery and on top of all of that, Melba also had to go through the harsh reality of segregation when she was five years old.

    In the Odyssey by Homer, the main character, Odysseus, demonstrates hero like characteristics. An article called The Hero’s Journey states that a hero is someone having the courage of judgement to act on feats benefitting the general populace(Ch.1, Sec.1). Throughout the epic poem he shows such traits to the reader, and characters in the poem.  Someone in another person’s life may feel this way due to similar actions. Selections from

In poetry and in song, literature, and action movies, the hero embodies the qualities of bravery, strength, and honor. According to Merriam-Webster, a hero is a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability: a warrior: a person admired for achievements and noble qualities: one who shows great courage. While others define this concept as a trustworthy cause a selfish or unselfish act. On the other hand, a hero is someone who stands for integrity and justice for all mankind and willingly put his life in peril for that belief. As noted there will always be different definitions of a hero as of the diverse perspective on the issue.

In most stories the typical hero is a person who is selfless, strong, uses their power, if any, to help others, and are usually nice and humble. Greek heroes however tend to vary in comparison. For instance, in the Iliad by Homer, the Greek hero Achilles is very strong and well loved, but he only fights in battles to gain personal glory, not to help others however, he is still a hero nonetheless. The ideal of heroism fluctuates between cultures, therefore the notions of heroism set forth can be contradicting. The heroes in the short stories Theseus retold by Robert Graves and The White Snake by the Grimm brothers show similar and dissimilar traits in both character, and the concept of heroism; but, both of the main characters are still considered heros.

The notion of an American way of war informs how scholars, policymakers, and strategists understand how Americans fight. A way of war—defined as a society’s cultural preferences for waging war—is not static. Change can occur as a result of important cultural events, often in the form of traumatic experiences or major social transformations. A way of war is therefore the malleable product of culturally significant past experiences. Reflecting several underlying cultural ideals, the current American way of war consists of three primary tenets—the desire for moral clarity, the primacy of technology, and the centrality of scientific management systems—which combine to create a preference for decisive, large-scale conventional wars with clear objectives and an aversion to morally ambiguous low-intensity conflicts that is relevant to planners because it helps them address American strategic vulnerabilities.

The western way of war consists of five foundations that have shaped a significant amount of military cultures; the foundations are superior technology, discipline, a finance system, innovation, and military tradition. Perhaps people believe that discipline is not one of the most important foundations of the western way of war, since people tend to emphasize technology. However, discipline is the key to maximizing the other four foundations before and during conflict. Historian Geoffrey Parker agrees that technology can give a military advantage, but it is not sufficient without superior discipline. That is because discipline consists of the ability of armies to act within battle plans even when not supervised, obey orders, exercise loyalty, and restrain their fears when faced with danger. Discipline as a western way of war has influenced military cultures from the Roman Empire to today’s militaries. Discipline shaped military cultures by how they prepared for war, effectively giving them the ability to act during combat and expanding commander’s operational reach, thus aiding in conflicts throughout history and increasing the likelihood of defeating the adversary.

The book The Warrior Ethos, by Steven Pressfield depicts the warrior’s mentality from ancient times to the present through a variety of different aspects and stories. In The Warrior Ethos, Pressfield states that men are not born with the certain qualities that make a good warrior, but instead are inculcated through years of training and indoctrination, stating at an early age. He goes on to show how different societies have been able to instill the same or very similar ideals throughout history while maintaining their own unique characteristics. Things have changed from ancient Sparta where parents would be enthusiastic about their children going to war, and even more elated

The change in Dan’s mood is a perfect example of the Four Noble Truths that his frustration comes from his own desire, the expectation of the weather to remain sunny just for him to be able to enjoy the picnic, and attachment, the belief which Socrates and Joy should be angry at the rain instead of laughing over it. Socrates points out Dan’s misunderstanding of the source of anger and corrects him by clarifying, “neither your disappointment nor your your anger was caused by the rain.” Socrates expounds that the rain is not intending on destroy Dan’s happiness, instead, the rain is simply performing its natural job as part of the water cycle. The source of Dan’s anger is his own mood, his reaction to the rain, or in other words, his disappointment of not having a nice dry weather. Socrates further extends Dan’s understanding of himself by telling him the cause of his greater anger after seeing Socrates and Joy remaining pleased during the rain. Socrates explicates clearly that Dan’s greater anger is caused by his expectation to other people, “The second lesson comes from observing how you became even more angry when you noticed that I wasn’t upset in the least.” Feeling offended, Dan develops more anger. Socrates’ teaching promotes Dan to realize that his suffering is caused his own disappointment of the world not fulfilling his expectation, and the fact that the Earth revolves around the Sun instead of him. Dan’s experience

This is a different sort of Pressfield book. Unlike the historical fiction genre in which he’s written such best-sellers as “Gates of Fire,” “The Afghan Campaign, and “The Profession,” “The Warrior Ethos” is the culmination of years of discussions Pressfield’s been having with Marines and others who were taken with the blend of courage-under-fire and humanity shown by Leonidas, Dienekes, Matthais, Gent, and the other characters in his books. “I wanted to give something back to our men and women fighting overseas,” Pressfield told Gazette, so I put together the best anecdotes and stories from all my research about the Spartans, Alexander's Macedonians, the Romans, and Rommel.”

Socrates showed Dan that learning how to be happy was his challenge because he didn't know how to just let life happen and stop trying to make it happen. He was too caught up in being an example for himself that he soon ended up being prisoner to his own self expectations. He was living under the dream that his achievements brought him happiness when in truth his want for success is what left him empty and depressed to begin with.

The novel Private Peaceful and the short story "The Best Christmas Present in the World" are both by Michael Morpurgo, however the author is not the only thing that connects the two. When looking at these stories you realise just how similar they are, mainly the characters, plot and many of the themes. However, these stories are also very different, and the main characters face challenges that are different to each other yet hold just as much importance.