Acts of heroism are sometimes associated with being compassionate and patriotic. To be called a hero is unusual that one gets to live. Although the safest answer to the question “Who is your hero?” would be someone alive who makes you feel secure, can a hero’s death be ever considered a survival for something?
Generally, death is often defined as the “end-of-it-all”. Even denouement of stories or endings can either be through a recovery which suggests a happy ending, or a tragic death which makes it sad. The discussion of death is taboo in most societies. However, one discussion from a historical fiction book Blood for Freedom: On a Mission Among the Mayas makes death an interesting avenue to discuss what is gained.
The death of the young boys who were abused by the military and even the main character’s death has made the other remaining members of the community continue their fight. For a pacifist, the survival of your death depends on how non-violent your ways of fighting will live and influence others to do the same. For a socialist, the survival of your death is dependent on how your death impacts mass organizations and social demonstrations. Whether you have a different view of what death is, what is clear is that it survives.
Death survives the moment the intent is for survival. It surely does sound complicated but to put it simply is the commonly used line, “When something ends, something begins.” Death, even in the historical fiction book that discusses the survival of death through heroism, and fighting for freedom, survives through the intention to allow a bigger cause to thrive even when the human body ceases to exist. What survives and continues to live is a legacy of hope and a memory of standing against violations of the right to live safely.
J. P. Piché 