Writing Feedback / Reflection Paper about heroes - everybody wants to be a hero [2]

Each and every day around us, there are those who need a hero but who is the hero and what is the right definition of heroism? Through weeks of discussing the concept of heroism, I discovered that the definition of heroism is relative: someone can be a hero from my perspective, but that person can be a villain from another perspective. However, all of the definitions agree on general principles of a hero so I can define the hero as a person who has courage and self-sacrifice and is willing to risk his life in order to help others regardless of the consequences. Heroes can be individuals or a group of people who does good deeds in order to serve their societies without the expectation of material gain.

Our world is full of injustice and darkness so there is a desperate need for heroes to make our world better. Some people misunderstand the concept of hero, they think that he or she is someone who has supernatural power, but that's wrong because a hero can be anyone of us. It doesn't matter having miraculous abilities, but it is all about having courage and determination to react properly in the right place and time. In Mark Doyle's article, "A Good Man in Rwanda," Capt Mbaye Diagne could help people as he can without having something unusual. He just harnesses his abilities in the right way to do virtue, but this makes him a hero because he saves people lives many times regardless of risking his life. To illustrate, I think that a great hero is the former Palestinian president Yasser Arafat. I admire him for his care of his people, his ability to stand up for what is right and just and his courage to face injustice. He was persistent on his goals and values until his last breath. Actually, both Diagne and Arafat have many similarities: both care about others more than care about themselves. For Diagne, he can go to any safe area as a Un peacekeeper and avoid going to a danger place like Rwanda that time. Also, Arafat was able to utilize his presidential privileges to gain his own interests like many presidents in our world, but both of them did not because they believe that helping others is far more important than achieving self-interests. Finally, if we see the way that both died, we discovered that both have been murdered while they are helping and refusing to give up on their principles: the militia had shot Diagne and Arafat had been poisoned. As a result, everyone who lives with Diagne thinks that he is a true hero as the same as what Palestinians and Arab world think about Arafat. Moreover, To come back to a point in the introduction about the relative concept of heroism using the same example of Yasser Arafat, on one hand, I said that Arafat is considered a hero by most of the Palestinians for his role in serving the Palestinian issue. On the other side, he is considered a villain by most of the Israelis because they think that he is an enemy to the Israeli state. Therefore, here is no clear definition of heroism because the definition varies depending on the time and the place.

Now, truth be told, we all want to be heroes. All of us want to make that difference and an impact in the life. When I think about my potential to be a hero in the future, I ask myself two questions: what will I impact and how is it important to having heroes. Then I am pretty sure of that the ultimate goal of every hero is to help others through his abilities and Specializations. Besides, heroes are doing good deeds which do not only benefit individuals but also the whole community. Actually, when we have enough number of heroes, that means we have a good chance to change the world and overcome that darkness in our world which leads to build a better future for the upcoming generations. To sum up, what people is required to be heroes is to focus on their strengths and overcome their weaknesses which mean that people have two choices: being a hero or a bystander. You have the choice!

Writing Feedback / Pathos, logos, ethos related to the article "A good man in Rwanda" [3]

Rwanda was the theater to one of the most atrocious events not only in the 20th century, but also in the history with killing more than 800,000 people in just 100 days. The ethnic genocide flared up when the Hutu president died in the shooting down of his plane on 6 April 1994. These events have been recorded and explained by Mark Doyle, a BBC journalist who experienced the annihilation in Rwanda. In the article" A Good Man in Rwanda" is targeting readers in order to show the vital role of Capt Mbaye Diagne. Among all of these horrifying events and the endless bloodshed, Diagne, who is 30 years old and a UN peacekeeper from Senegal, emerges as a dove of peace and puts his own life on the line to save others. In the article, " A Good Man in Rwanda" for Doyle who lived those successive events in Rwanda, he could successfully convince and paint a picture in readers' minds for the heroic role of Diagne not only emotionally, but also logically and through his credibility as a witness.

Doyle uses the rhetorical appeal of pathos to convince the readers successfully in his article that Diagne is a remarkable hero who will not be forgotten for his heroic role in the Rwanda genocide. Using pathos plays a major role in gaining the sympathy of readers and getting the reader into that historical event even if it will not be as it was. As many writers, Doyle uses children as a prominent element for pathos because readers always feel empathy for what is happening to any child. A good example is the case of the children of Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana who took a brick-built bungalow as a shelter from the militia. Doyle expresses the fear of the children while they were looking at soldiers who wanted to kill their parents through a tiny window. In this case, the reader feels a deep grief because those children should not see or encounter such situations. However, the writer turns that feeling of depression into a feeling of glory by explaining the heroic role of Diagne when he was able to rescue and help those children to overcome their fear and transfer them to a safe hotel. The writer shows clearly that from the suffering which symbolized darkness, there is a light to send hope and that light is in the heroic role of Diagne.

Through focusing on the appeal to logos in the article, Dolye provides much evidence such as, photos, videos and some statistics because most readers prefer to be convinced with evidence and reasons when they read something historically. He gives many videos and photos to prove his point and confirm what was happening by the people who lived in that time. This appears clearly in the video which has been attached of a doctor, Odette Nyiramilimo who was with a family on their way to the airport when the militia stopped them and wanted to kill them. However, the strong personality of Diagne appeared in the critical situation, when he refused this horrifying act so the reader feels proud about what Diagne did when he stood in front of the militia and said, "you cannot kill these people, they are my responsibility. I will not allow you to harm them - you'll have to kill me first."(Dolye) Actually, this proves that Diagne doesn't care about his life as much as he cares for the others' life. Diagne is an actual hero because he risks his life many times in order to help others which was proved by the number of people who owe their lives to Diagne. The number is estimated by the State Department in Washington D.C. to be "as many as 600". Readers shouldn't read this number as a number but they should think deeply about the number of times and different severe situations which Diagne put himself. Overall, no one risks his life and puts his life in danger unless he is a true hero and a good man.

Trust is the basis for convincing others and Doyle knows well what he wrote about in his article because he lives through the genocide in Rwanda as a journalist, so the reader can trust his work based on his credibility as an eyewitness. A good example showing the credibility of Doyle is realted to the prominent role of Diagne is his case; When he was with Diagne and the militia wanted to kill him because he is Belgian (considered as an enemy), Diagne didn't stand with arms folded; he started joking with the soldiers. Dolye said, "He used his sense of humor to talk his way through the roadblocks." Diagne in many times used his sense of humor to break the tension of the moment with the militia. Also, even though he was a Muslim, he used to carry alcohol in his car, not for him, but in order to overtake the roadblocks and make a good relationship with the militia who stopped him. In general, people misunderstand the concept of hero: they think that he is someone who can help others by his physical power, but actually, the true hero is the one who can deal with difficult situations wisely. This situation builds trust in the readers' minds and makes them believe in Dolye when he talks about the unbelievable role of Diagne in helping and rescuing people.

Convincing people is not easy but Dolye succeeded in perusing audience through using possessive methods, pathos, logos and ethos about the heroic role of Diagne because of his vital role in the Rwanda genocide. Dolye can influence on the audience by discussing what children suffered during that time. He gives much evidence such as the statistics of the number of people who Diagne rescued based on an official document by the State Department in Washington. This article is full of credibility because the writer experienced what he writes about which is clear when he explains how Diagne rescued him. What the writer tries to say is that even in the darkness, there is a light, and this light is Diagne, who proves his heroic features in rescuing people without fearing the consequences in one of the most horrifying even in the history. Dignae is not a man who has supernatural power, but he cares about others more than he cares about his own life and he puts himself in danger many times just to help others, so he deserves to be a hero as Dolye successfully explained in the article.