Read the article “Heroes With Solid Feet” and the article “Where I Find My Heroes” and respond to the following questions.
1. What is the main idea of the article “Heroes With Solid Feet”. Explain in a 200 word response how the author, Kirk Douglas, defines what it means to be a hero. Include a quote from the article in your response to support your statement. 2. What is the main idea of the article “Where I Find My Heroes”? Explain in a 200 word response how the author, Oliver Stone, defines what it means to be a hero. Include a quote from the article in your response to support your statement. 3. How do you define a hero? Explain in a 200 word response including examples and details from your personal experiences.
Summer Assignment for English III: Heroes
English III CP Summer Assignment 2017-2018 School Year
Read the article “Heroes With Solid Feet” and the article “Where I Find My Heroes” and respond to the following questions.
1. What is the main idea of the article “Heroes With Solid Feet”. Explain in a 200 word response how the author, Kirk Douglas, defines what it means to be a hero. Include a quote from the article in your response to support your statement. 2. What is the main idea of the article “Where I Find My Heroes”? Explain in a 200 word response how the author, Oliver Stone, defines what it means to be a hero. Include a quote from the article in your response to support your statement. 3. How do you define a hero? Explain in a 200 word response including examples and details from your personal experiences.
Heroes With Solid Feet
by Kirk Douglas
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Recently, I journeyed to Berlin to accept the Golden Bear, a lifetime achievement award, from the Berlin Film Festival. Those awards make me smile — lifetime achievement? Is this the end? Not long ago my son Michael received a lifetime achievement award. If you last long enough, you may get dozens.
I accepted the Golden Bear because I was curious to see Berlin again. During my earlier visits there, the city had been divided by a wall.
In a press conference at the film festival, one journalist asked loudly, “As a Jew, how does it affect you to be in Berlin?” A montage of pictures we have all seen raced through my mind. Shattering glass windows, Hitler salutes, Jews being herded into freight cars, piles of emaciated Jews, ovens, dark smoke coming out of chimneys.
“The last century has been a disaster,” I said. “My generation did not do a good job — so many wars, so much killing and of course, here in Germany, the Holocaust, perhaps the worst crime of all, the attempt to annihilate a people as a final solution.”
They were all listening.
“But I don’t think children should be punished for the sins of their fathers. We should do all we can to give our children that chance.”
The questioner persisted. “So why did you come back to Berlin?” I ignored him. But the question bothered me. I didn’t know a proper reason for a Jew to be in Berlin.
The audience at the awards ceremony gave me a standing ovation when I gave my speech in German, a language I learned when I made two movies in Germany. The papers were filled with my smiling face. The television reports were very complimentary. That night my wife and I had a wonderful Wiener schnitzel with some friends and a Jewish friend of theirs, Inge Borck, who lived in Berlin throughout the war. She was such a happy person, smiling and laughing. But when I was told that her parents and grandparents had all been killed in the concentration camps, I blurted out, “So why do you stay in Berlin?”
Smiling, she gave me this answer: “I owe that to the little heroes.”
“I don’t understand,” I said. With a sigh, she came over and sat closer.
“When the Gestapo came to get them, my parents sent me to a small hotel to save my life. The owner was the first little hero. She kept me safe for a couple of nights. When it became dangerous, I met my second little hero. Or should I say heroine? She was our former housekeeper. She hid me for a while and endangered her own life. Then I lived in a cloister. My little heroes were the nuns who took care of me when I was very sick. They never asked questions. When the situation became dangerous, my next little hero was a policeman who didn’t agree with the Nazis. All through the war, I was lucky to find little heroes who helped me till the Russians came in.”
“So, why do you stay here?” I asked again. She looked at my perplexed face and said, “I thought about it, but I feel I owe it to the little heroes who helped me. Not everyone here was wicked.”
Her story had a great impact on me. Of course, we are always looking for a big hero to emulate, and very often we see them topple from clay feet. How much better to reach for the little heroes in life — and to try to be one. It’s not always as hard as it was for the people in wartime Berlin. You aren’t obligated to save a life — you only need to try to help other people.
And if everyone tried — well, just think of the lifetime achievements.
WHERE I FIND MY HEROES by Oliver Stone
It’s not true that there are no heroes anymore—but it is true that my own concept of heroism has changed radically over time. When I was young and I read the Random House biographies, my heroes were always people like George Washington and General Custer and Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. Men, generally, and doers. Women—with the exception of Clara Barton, Florence Nightingale, and Joan of Arc—got short shrift. Most history was oriented toward male heroes.
But as I’ve gotten older, and since I’ve been to war, I’ve been forced to reexamine the nature of life and of heroism. What is true? Where are the myths?
The simple acts of heroism are often overlooked—that’s very clear to me not only in war but in peace. I’m not debunking all of history: Crossing the Delaware was a magnificent action. But I am saying that I think the meaning of heroism has a lot to do with evolving into a higher human being. I came into contact with it when I worked with Ron Kovic, the paraplegic Vietnam vet, on Born on the Fourth of July. I was impressed by his life change, from a patriotic and strongwilled athlete to someone who had to deal with the total surrender of his body, who grew into a nonviolent and peaceful advocate of change in the Martin Luther King, Jr., and Gandhi tradition. So heroism is tied to an evolution of consciousness,….
Since the war, I’ve had children, and I’m wrestling now with the everyday problems of trying to share my knowledge with them without overwhelming them. It’s difficult to be a father, to be a mother, and I think that to be a kind and loving parent is an act of heroism. So there you go—heroes are everyday, common people. Most of what they do goes unheralded, unappreciated. And that, ironically, is heroism: not to be recognized.
Who is heroic? Scientists who spend years of their lives trying to find cures for diseases. The teenager who says no to crack. The innercity kid who works at McDonald’s instead of selling drugs. The kid who stands alone instead of joining a gang, which would give him an instant identity. The celebrity who remains modest and treats others with respect, or who uses his position to help society. The student who defers the immediate pleasure of making money and finishes college or high school. People who take risks despite fears. People in wheelchairs who don’t give up….
We have a lot of corruption in our society. But we mustn’t assume that everything is always basely motivated. We should allow for the heroic impulse—which is to be greater than oneself, to try to find another version of oneself, to grow. That’s where virtue comes from. And we must allow our young generation to strive for virtue, instead of ridiculing it.
