Hero and Rebel

If you check the list of definitions for hero in any dictionary, you’ll see that the words in the list are only positive words like: star, ideal, exemplar, number one, idol… But, if you check the list of definitions for rebel you’ll see that there are more negative words to define this kind of person than positive words. However, if you observe human history, you’ll see that many heroes were rebels before, so there’s obviously a thin line between them. A rebel wants to change something and will do whatever it takes to change that situation. In the list of words which describes a rebel there are the words “innovator”, “revolution”, and “nonconformist”. So if a rebel tries to change something for the best, he’ll be a hero, won’t he? Let’s check some examples in history: Gandhi, in order to make India an independent country, boycotted foreign-made goods, especially British goods, so he was a rebel even if he didn’t use any violence. And yet, he was considered a hero afterwards. Let’s take another example: the people who participated in the French revolution. They were rebelling against the king and the monarchy, but they are considered heroes nowadays. Still, some heroes have never been rebels, like Spiderman or Superman, and i can’t think of an example from a hero who became a rebel. To sum up, we can say that rebels and heroes have a lot of things in common, a rebel can become a hero, but a hero won’t become a rebel.