Colin Kaepernick

It's not easy to be a hero. Being a hero entitles someone to a lot of reputation and a lot of experience. To be a hero, you need to have many unique traits and characteristics, you don't just consist of one. Many people today, in fact, believe that being a hero only correlates with being a war hero. A soldier, maybe, who saves his squad or even more. This is true, and I do believe in war heroes, but I also believe that you can be a hero off the battlefield. An example of a modern day hero is the San Francisco's former QB, Colin Kaepernick. Colin first began throwing a football at the age 8, and ever since then this football superstar has fell in love with the sport. He attended the University of Nevada in Reno, and has been a starting QB ever since. He broke many college records, and was later drafted to the 49ers in 2011 as a starting QB. Once he stepped on the turf in Levi Stadium (the 49ers home stadium) he changed into being a rookie off the draft pick into my own personal hero.

As stated before, being a hero entitles someone to a lot of responsibility, and Colin Kaepernick is not only generous to his community and football team, but is selfless and a leader. Colin lead his team to the super bowl in 2013. In his first couple of years, Colin began to blow up all over the media, and he and his small town of Turlock, CA, a town of 69,000 people, began to be noticed. Colin could've easily left and been drafted to another team, but he had decided to stay loyal to his town of Turlock, making his people more noticeable. Being loyal to the people who you are responsible for and the people you love the most is an important trait in being a hero. He wasn't only loyal to his people of the town of Turlock, but he was also loyal to his team. Before his arrival, the San Francisco 49ers weren't the best team in the league. In fact, their team and fanbase were struggling week by week. But, when Colin joined as the starting QB in 2011, the team began to become more and more noticeable. The morale was low, but when Colin joined and began to reassure the team, it was a successful journey to a becoming a contender in Super Bowl 47.The fanbase was growing larger, as well as the wins against other teams in the NFL. He stayed with his players and helped them improve both physically and mentally.

While Colin Kaepernick had all of these heroic traits, it would still not be enough for him to earn the name as my hero. I truly believe that being a leader is the most important trait that a hero must have. Out of all of the heroes that I've examined so far, them being leaders to their loyal subjects and their brothers, both literally and not, is so important in passing through difficult areas in life, both physically and emotionally. Over a person's lifetime, many unfortunate times will happen. This is not meant to be a negative statement, but it is entirely true. The world isn't perfect, and sometimes we need people to help and lead us through the difficult times in life. Colin Kaepernick is a perfect example of a hero with this personality. He is currently supporting the charity organization, Camp Taylor. Camp Taylor is an organization that provides money and support to children who suffer from heart disease. Colin Kaepernick donated both his time and his money to help support those kids in need without expecting anything in return. He would physically meet the children diagnosed with heart disease, and reassure them as much as he could, as well as played a few snaps with the kids. Colin never forgot that football is life.

What is a hero to you? This question is asked many times by many different people around the world, famous or not. Everybody thinks that heroes are put onto this Earth, that people are chosen to be heroes, but I'm here to tell you that anyone can be a hero. Colin is an example of this, nobody thought that a rookie QB being drafted to a team with a low win-loss ratio could be transformed into a hero, into a person who is selfless and is willing to lead his team to the best, as well as to give back to his community without expecting anything in return. Anyone can do it, as long as they have the confidence and the ability to go the extra mile. That, is how you earn the title of a long lived hero.