In life, hard decisions and hard moments can flood our vision, making it hard to see the bright side of things. Also in life, there will be people that will clear up the troubled times and help guide you. These people, who you may not truly appreciate at the time are the Hidden heroes in life.
(Song Hidden Heros By the Talleys, Lyrics are a perfect example of the definition of a Hidden Hero)
We see that In the Chapter “On the rainy river” Elroy is one of those Hidden Heros. Tim O’Brien makes this section the main center focus of the book, because of all of the messages behind courage, heroism and much more that ran through every soldier’s head before going into the war. This chapter takes place in 1968, which is at the war’s peak. Tim O’Brien Just received his draft notice and doesn’t want to go to war for a cause that he doesn’t believe in. In the Next Upcoming pages of the story, we meet Tim O’Briens Hidden Hero.
A Picture of the Tip Top Lodge that O’Brien stayed in.
Elroy is not the hero that we all picture. He is just a quiet and reserved man that is able to help O’Brien through the impossible decisions that he was going to make. He does this by remaining quiet, calm and he keeps his poise when O’Brien is almost losing his mind. You can see this on page 54. It states “ All I could do was cry. Quietly, not bawling just the Chest Chokes. At the end of the rear of the boat, Elroy Berdahl pretended not to hear”. I think that this shows Elroy being the rock that O’Brien needed at the time. He didn’t need someone to tell him what was best for his future, or someone to give him a push off the boat, he just needed someone to support his decision no matter what.
The quite support that Elroy gives is missing in today’s society. There are too many people today who rely on others to spoon-feed them answers to their problems and it gets in the way of the beauty of learning from your own decisions. Now Elroy may not be the Superman we expect out of the word “hero”, he is actually the exact opposite. Just a quiet guy that nobody knows about, yet in just this little part of the story, everybody who reads it can acknowledge the hero in Elroy because of the respect that he had for O’Brien’s decision.
https://training.mmlearn.org/caregiver-training-videos/hidden-heroes-one-couples-caregiving-story
(Link to the hidden hero foundation, a foundation that is made for soldiers mental health that was started by a hidden hero herself)
A Picture of Army recruits learning how to maximize their courage.
O’Brien Defines courage as an inheritance, something that you receive. I agree with this statement, as courage is more apparent in some people than in others. I also believe that everybody has the opportunity to let their courage through to the world, but it just takes more effort out some people than others. On the other spectrum, I also believe that many people don’t ever try to dig deep and take the courage that they are given. I’ve heard the saying “there’s more than you can give that you didn’t even know that you could give” many times in my life. It a point that almost all of my coaches point out before a game or a lifting session. But I really do think that the people who really experience the absolute limit that a human body can go is the Average soldier. I also think that the incredible people that you hear about (medal of honor recipients) are just those normal soldiers who have learned how to push their body to the max, but to also push their courage to the max as well. Through this chapter we can see stories of pure terror of the future, courage, and disgust. All of these emotions of the average soldier allow us as the readers to have a connection with the solider and almost share these feelings with him as the solider shares his story.