A Book Nerd's Inner Voices

A Hero's Sacrifice

I just watched The Last Unicorn with my daughter, which used to be one of my favorite movies as a kid. What I didn't remember was the she falls for this great guy, then end up without him in the end after saving the rest of her kind forced to live for all eternity with the regret of a love lost. So it made me wonder: Why is it that every hero is forced to give up the on they love?





You see it everywhere. Look at any comic book hero. Superman, Batman, Spiderman. All lie in a world hiding who they are, sacrificing their heart's desire for the bigger picture. Hell, even Peter Pan, my other childhood favorite, ends up being lonely for the rest of his life. And, seeing as he's Peter Pan and will never grow up, that is a pretty long time.





Is part of the reason I'm so cynical about love because of the movies I chose to love as a child? Or did I choose these movies because I'm cynical about love? There's no doubt about it, I have a fairly bitter outlook on matters of the heart---even now---which is ironic as it's the only thing I ever wanted.





I believe the old saying "'Tis far better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all," but why do we have to lose? Why is it that one person is called upon to save the rest, and therefore forced to give up the only thing that really matters? It's unfair, that's what it is. And I'm sorry for being selfish, but if that's what it means to be a hero, you can count me out. If, on the off chance I am ever called upon to save the world, you're all out of luck. For although I may be down on love sometimes, I know with all of my heart that it's the only thing that really matters. Money, fame, fortune. They're all nice, but they're all material and have no true meaning. But love is what it's all about. Finding that one person to whom my heart already belongs was the beginning of my hero's journey, and I would much rather love him with every fiber of my being for one day than live the rest of my life without ever having met him. That's not living. Call me selfish if you will, but all the gifts in the world couldn't outweigh the joy just that one day would give me.





So if I'm ever called up to be a hero, I can tell you right now, that's one sacrifice I won't be making.