Do we need heores in order to build our identity ?

In antiquity, myths were stories which aimed to explain the origins of humanity and heroes (people who were half-god half-human) were the characters of in these stories like such as Ulysses from The Odyssey. Some psychologists explain that having a hero is part of our identity quest.
The issue at stake here is : do we need heroes in order to build our identity ?

To begin with, we can assert that everybody has a hero, or at least someone he or she admires. We all have someone to whom we dream of looking like. If you go to a playground, you will see that every children child plays a « hero » such as Spiderman, Superman or some other cartoon character. Then, when these children turn into become teenagers, their heroes become more rational such as singers, actors or sportsmen, mostly people who are famous and renowned for their qualities. I think it's true that we need heroes when we are young because when you don't yet know yet who you are, who you want to be, you need a model to follow.

However, some heroes are controversial. For example a sportsman like Lance Armstrong was considered as a hero until we discovered that his achievements were just cheats based upon cheating. Especially, A lot of teenagers are admiring admire stars implicated in involved with drugs, alcohol and sex businesses. I think that a society in crisis, a teenager in crisis, need landmarks, someone to say to them tell them what to do and what to think and sometimes they fall into the trap of worshipping fake heroes who pretend to embody an ideal model.

Finally, we have forgotten that the original heroes in Antiquity were EXAMPLES for the Greek children. To my mind, a true hero is supposed to make us humanly better. Nowadays, people consider someone as a hero because he is rich, famous or gorgeous. Indeed, they represent what most of people want to become and unfortunately also the criteria qualities that our society holds in high-regard but they don't represent moral values.

To conclude, I would like to quote a sentence from the Clint Eastwood’s film, Flags of our fathers, in which a man said : «  Maybe there is no such things as heroes, maybe they are just people like my dad. Heroes are something we create, something we need. » I think it's true that we need heroes in order to build our identity but a hero doesn't really exist in itself. The important thing is not so much having a hero as to define one's own values. Then, we can become our very own hero, someone of whom we are proud.

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