Archbishop Damaskinos

When you see HERO what do you think? I think of people who are brave and would risk their lives to save others. People who choose to help others instead of turning their back and minding their buisness. Due to the many dangers there are in this world, heroes are greatly needed. I can understand that because I've had heroes save my life more than once, and if they weren't there I wouldn't be here today. I saw this article of someone who risked his life to save others, Archbishop Damaskinos.

Archbishop Damaskinos

Archbishop Damaskinos, born Didmitrioa Papandreou, refused the Nazi orders and saved thousands of Jews all the while being the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Athens (during WWII). "I have spoken to God, and my conscience tells me what we must do," said Damaskinos. In order to save thousands of Jews from deportation, he gave fake baptismal certificates and false identification to any of them who asked.

Archbishop Damaskinos (supported by British occupation authorities) appointed six ministries during 1945. None was able to bridge the gap between moderates and left-wing resistance groups. Damaskinos lived in Switzerland, was born in 1891 and died in 1949. Damaskinos made a difference in the world by saving many lives, of strangers, and didn't stop to think about what would happen to him if anyone found out about his plan.

My hero fits the categories of Hero on the spot and Hero to others near and far. He goes fits the hero on the spot because when these people were in danger he stood up and said he would help them no matter what the consequences were going to be. He was there to help them when they needed it and he showed no hesitation to helping them. He also fits the category hero to others near and far because he showed others how courageous and unselfish he was. He showed he how much he was sacrificing to save all those Jews.

In the begining of my report, I asked what you thought a hero was. If you didn't have that good of an idea about it, do you know? What would you say if I asked you what a hero was? Do you want to be a hero? Alot of people don't realize how valuable life is until they've had a near-death experience. Heroes help them realize how much life is worth. When you are in an accident so bad and then your life is saved, you get this undescribalbe feeling. It's just you realize at that moment how much life is worth living. I think everyone should be a hero to someone, but you don't nesessarily have to be a hero to someone else. You can also be a hero to yourself. You can push yourself to acheiving a goal you want or never thought you could.