“The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest are near to virtue” – Confucius

Another week is beginning and it is the last one of this wonderful month: March. Yesterday, my host family made me a surprise. They celebrated, as they called it: my “1/2 birthday”. Since they celebrated all the birthday of the other guys and not mine because my birthday is in September, they made this surprise and I am so glad to have them as my host family. Margaret is my host mum and she tried to make a cake that is called “Torta del Re”, in English “King’s cake”, which is my favourite but it is very hard to prepare. Her result was not the same of the original cake but I appreciated it a lot. Then, I came back to MVC and I went on reading Beowulf.

So, Beowulf is considered a hero because he killed Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon in order to save people’s lives. He died very proud of himself: “None had the power to intimidate me” (Heaney, 185). Proud of what he did, proud of how he governed, proud of what he achieved, he died in the glory. “Beowulf the king had indeed met with a marvellous death” (Heaney, 205) during the battle against the dragon, and that victory gave him more honor than what he had already achieved.

I would not define Beowulf as a hero. However, if someone thinks so, I do not like this kind of hero. I love the heros who die in sielent, the ones who are proud of what they did but they do not say it. A hero is one who acts to change things and help the others without using violence, such as, Nelson Mandela, who tacked the institutionalism racism of the Apartheid regime by fostering racial reconciliation. Another hero is Ghandi, who employed nonviolent civil disobedience and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Or Martin Luther King, who recognized the civil rights to black American people in 1964. None of them used violence to protect people. I know that Beowulf  is a old book and it is not a true story, but I think true stories can teach more than fictions. I love the heros who are peoud of themselves but they do not show themselves as superior to others.