The title “hero” can mean a lot of different things. I believe that a hero is different for everyone and that it really depends on the person. Just how everyone is different, so are their ideas. A hero to me (in a nutshell) is someone who does good for just the sake of doing good things. One such person that fits this description is Nathan Wolfe, the leader of the CIA of infectious disease. For many different reasons Nathan deserves more credit than he gets.
One of the reasons this is true is because Nathan’s job is no walk through the park. He risks his life on numerous occasions and has actually almost died from malaria in the line of work. Now you might say, well so do police officers and firemen, and this is still true. But Nathan’s case is much different, he risks his life preventing horrible diseases from spreading to the rest of the world. It’s almost disturbing how many horrific ways he could die just from work, you really have to be determined to do this every day of your life. Not only is this risky but imagine dealing with a threat you have limited knowledge of. Firefighters just need to know which building is on fire and where the nearest fire hydrant is. In Nathan’s case he’s fighting an invisible enemy. To prevent a disease from spreading you have to destroy the source, so imagine going to the source of a disease you can’t find or fight and your expected to eliminate it completely. Doesn’t sound like any easy task.
Another reason Nathan Wolfe is a real hero is because he takes these dangerous risks for people. Not just for people he knows or people he’s met one time, no, just all the people here as a whole. He’s responsible for all or nearly all of the planet’s health and well-being. This is a huge responsibility for just one man to take on. Nathan really and truly cares for the people of his planet because otherwise he probably wouldn’t still be working in his field. Yet what’s really amazing is that he does this with such confidence, that he can get up and take all this responsibility and risk so much and still think in a positive way. Mentally, Nathan has to be unbreakable and smart at the same time, again not an easy task. He must really care about all the people in the world to go against all those odds every day and still love doing what he does for a living. Personally I think he doesn’t get enough credit for his work and abilities.
The last reason I believe Nathan Wolfe to be a hero is because of the sheer skill he possess in his field of study. To think what kind of schooling and hands on practice he must have gone through to become this kind of skilled scientist. It couldn’t have been easy to study all the information to become a highly respected virologist. Some might say he’s a guardian angel for our planet. I would feel completely safe knowing that he cares so much and has the skill to back it up. What good is saying something if you can’t do it? This is something all heroes should be able to do, to ensure they know what they can and can’t handle, and Nathan shows this quality in his work.
Nathan Wolfe defiantly displays characteristics of a hero in my opinion. He risks his life for the sake of people on this planet and he’s good at it. He only gives and never takes and is always willing to help those in trouble, even at the cost of his own health and safety. Nathan Wolfe is truly a hero.
