Jesse Owens

 Jesse Owens

Unless you have been living under a rock for your whole life then you must have heard about them. The ones who spread hope and motivation everywhere they go, the ones who are the guiding light in the dark for many. Of course I’m talking about heroes. Not all heroes have to be super fast or something like that but my hero certainly was and his name was Jesse Owens. Now this name has been written down in many history books over the years but what you might not know is that his name is not even Jesse, it’s actually James Cleveland. The reason he is called Jesse is because as he grew up teachers started to mix the J from James and the C from Cleveland and if you just try saying JC right now then you will most likely hear that it sounds like Jesse. Some of the many reasons why I consider him a hero is because he was ridiculously brave, he did something that I would say was nothing short of amazing and finally he never ever gave up.

Firstly, a reason I consider him a hero is that he was brave and because Jesse Owens was an African-American who entered the Olympics in 1936 before WW2. Now if you ask me, even just doing that is amazing enough because the Olympics that year was held in Germany, you know while all the Nazis were in control, and if you know a thing or two about history then you know that the Nazis didn’t really have the best opinion of African-Americans.

Secondly, a reason I consider Jesse a hero is because, in my opinion at least, he was absolutely awesome. The reason for this is that he won four gold medals right in front of Adolf Hitler himself and after this Hitler stormed out of the stadium and refused to congratulate Jesse on his accomplishment. To me at least it sounds like Jesse Owens just made Hitler rage quit.

Finally, a reason and maybe the biggest reason I consider him a hero is because he never ever gave up. Something he once said was, “A lifetime of training just for ten seconds.” This means that he had trained hard his whole life just for this very moment. Jesse Owens was the son of a sharecropper and the grandchild of a slave. Now if you ask me, that sounds like the very bottom of the barrel. Yet with hard work and determination he managed to make his name known. Throughout his life he endured a lot of hardships yet he never gave up. No matter what happened he never gave up. If you ask me THAT is the one of if not the most important quality of a hero.

He started on the bottom and made his way to the top. Jesse Owens inspired and gave hope to others. Hope for greatness, hope that they themselves no matter who they are can be just as great as he was. He got people to understand the true meaning of the word determination and never giving up even when you feel defeated. To be perfectly honest, if you ask me, giving hope and inspiring others is truly what a hero should do. Throughout the time that we have worked with heroes Brianne has always thrown one question at us, “Do you have to be famous to be a hero?” I always answered no on this and now I see that Jesse Owens was the living proof of this. Jesse Owens no, James Cleveland, was not famous yet he carved his name in to history with his own two hands and hard work.