Bill Gates

Everyone has their own definition of what a hero is. Commonly a "hero" is measured by his or her astounding accomplishments, extraordinary characteristics and more often times than not, their undeniable acts bravery. William Henry "Bill" Gates III was born in Seattle, Washington in 1955. He's known as a business magnate, which is an influential or person of great importance in the business realm, entrepreneur, philanthropist and programmer who cofounded Microsoft in 1975.  In 2008, Gates stepped down from Microsoft to spend more time working on the work he was doing with expanding medical care options in underdeveloped countries. Today, Gates and his foundation continue to back medical research with the millions in donations it has received from the Gates family and many others. Typically, a hero possesses altruism that comes in the form of selflessness or thinking less about yourself and more about others, and devotion which comes in the form of perseverance, or the act of completing a task despite the possible difficulties. Bill Gates possesses the qualities of being altruistic and devoted to his beliefs, which makes him a hero.

Furthermore, Gates' unwavering perseverance and hard work contributed to his ability to be devoted to his beliefs no matter how much money he had earned. Although Gates was still young and was,"still in high school--founding with Allen, a firm called Traf-O-Data. Their small company earned them $20,000 in fees for analyzing local traffic patterns." ("Bill Gates") Whilst still attending high school Gates and Allen managed to found a small firm that earned them an abundant amount of money. Gates graduated, while working, with flying colors and even earning 1590 out of 1600 on his SAT. Some may think that because he is so successful, things must have come easily to him. However, "Gates struggled in public elementary school, so his parents enrolled him at private Lakeside School. There, he was first introduced to computers, and at the early age of thirteen wrote a program to play tic-tac-toe." ("William Henry (Bill) Gates") Even at a young age, Gates devoted his time to technology and advancing himself in that area. He created a gaming program when most people don't, if ever, learn to code for programming until they're at least in college. His devotion to his work has led to a major advancement in technology that may not have been introduced for a number of years down the road.

Due to Gates' altruism and devotion he has allowed major technological advancements to occur, as well as the prevention of an approximated, "5 million deaths," ("William Henry (Bill) Gates"), and changes in the lives of many teens with educational scholarships. Gates even showed an abundance of promise at a young age. He created a game program at the age of 13, founded a small, but successful, company with a friend in high school, earned a nearly perfect score on his SAT, and was and continues to be the richest man in the world. His life has immeasurable accomplishments. However, although most of his strenuous working days are over, Gates continues to work with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, that gives so many students and families astounding opportunities. Gates inspires me to find something that I love and excel in it. He motivates me to be great and to also never make decisions on the presumption of earning more money or having more money than another person. Although Gates is one of the richest people in the world, he remains humble by giving back. In his years, he has approximately donated over $1 billion to charities, foundations, educational programs and more. Bill Gates inspires me to be selfless. Because of Gates' exceptional ability to never lose sight of how acts of kindness can affect someone's life, I consider him a more than a deserving hero.

Works Cited

Bill Gates." Business Leader Profiles for Students. Ed. Sheila Dow and Jaime E. Noce. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Biography in Context. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.

Biography.com Editors. "Bill Gates." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 02 May 2016.

"William Henry (Bill) Gates." Computer Sciences. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2013. Biography in Context. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.