Reaction

"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself."
~Joseph Campbell

Campbell has done a lot of research on heroes, legends, and quests, the stuff that the Arthurian Legends are made of. What reactions do you have to this quote?

As a side note, I chose the picture at the top because it is a photograph of the Holocaust survivor who spoke to us last semester at Vanderbilt. This photo was taken the day she left on a ship for the United States to her new adoptive family (her aunt and uncle). Her name is Frances Cutler, and her parents put her in an orphanage in Paris to save her. Her mother was murdered in Auschwitz and her father died as a French resistance fighter. I don't think I need to make the connection for you between this quote and this picture. I will say that, though Frances is certainly a hero for telling her story to student groups around the country, I cannot imagine being in a situation where the best scenario for my child to live is for me to have to give her up and leave her with strangers.