Emerson's Mutual Idea of a Hero

                Throughout history, Ralph Waldo Emerson has been defined as a man who valued individualism and freedom.  After examining some of his most widely-known works, I have come to realize that Emerson was also simply a man of words.  Emerson once said that, “a hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.”  When searching for a hero, we tend to overlook the common man, or even ourselves.  Throughout my life, like Emerson, I have come to believe that we should always be open to expecting the unexpected.

                As a little girl, I loved to go swimming with my friend Laura.  While we swam and enjoyed each other’s company, our moms, who were best friends, would do the same.  On July 18, 2000, Laura’s mom, Kaylynn, invited my mom, sister and I to their new home to swim and cool off from the Texas summer heat.  That afternoon, we explored their new home and ordered pizzas for lunch.  Laura and I were told that we were not allowed to swim until the pizza had arrived and our moms were able to watch us.  As our anticipation built, Laura and I decided that it would be funny to sneak into the backyard just a few minutes early so that we could finally swim; ignoring the fact that we did not have permission.  Before jumping off of the diving board, I slipped a diving mask on to cover my eyes; little did I know that it would come close to killing me.  After running down the diving board, I plunged into the deep water.  While swimming up to the bright surface, the mask slid down my face, covering my mouth and nose.  The more I swam, the tighter the mask would suction to my face.  Once I reached the surface, I gasped for air that didn’t exist.  I attempted to rip off the mask to release the pressure that had built up.  As the mask suffocated me, I ran out of air and strength, sinking to the bottom of the pool.  After only a few seconds, I lost consciousness.  Once Laura realized that I needed help, she sprinted into the house and screamed, “Mom! Mrs. Kim! Something is wrong with Becca, she needs your help! Hurry!”  Our mom’s panicked, realizing that we had not listened, and fled to the backyard to see what we had gotten ourselves into.  When they reached the backyard, they saw Laura yelling and pointing to the bottom of the pool and found that she was pointing to me.  Kaylynn immediately dove to the bottom of the pool and pulled me out onto the hot concrete while my mom called 911 for help.  As she tried to rip the mask off of my face, Kaylynn could not get the mask to come off of my face, and realized she was running out of time.  I had already turned blue.  After cutting the mask off of my face, Kaylynn did all that she could to save my life by giving me CPR until the ambulance arrived.  Once the ambulance reached the house, I had slowly began gaining consciousness. I was immediately taken to the hospital.  At first, I was not showing signs of recovery and the doctors feared that I would lose my memory; however, after several hours in the hospital, I began to return to full consciousness. 

After realizing that I was going to be ok, my parents couldn’t thank Kaylynn enough.  She had saved my life.  We used to see Kaylynn as a family friend; however, now we see her as nothing short of a hero.  Without her, I would not be here today.  While looking into Emerson’s idea of a hero, the first person that comes to my mind is Kaylynn.  Although she may appear to be an ordinary human being, to me she is the selfless, loving, brave woman that forever changed my life.