What does a “hero” mean for me?

As we were given an assignment to find quotes that would find a response in us, I’ve searched the internet and came across my favorite German philosopher and Austrian writer. Here are two quotations said by them and I’m goint to explain my choice below.

“A hero always fights against the Destiny”

Stefan Zweig

These words caught my attention right away. From my perspective a hero is someone who is courageous and finds powers and energy to put up a fight against inequitable ordeals of destiny in order not to be a slave of fate. Maybe it’s a little bit exaggerated, but on our path there can be some significant and crucial twists of fate that we want to overcome. I consider a hero is exactly that personal living being who has the power to break the supposed predefined way and change the destiny no matter what.

“Heroism — that is the disposition of a man who aspires to a goal compared to which he himself is wholly insignificant. Heroism is the good will to self-destruction.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

Nietzsche is definitely the man of powerful words and in this case I cannot but agree with him. His words coincide with my point of view about heroes. We both think that heroes, as the accepted notion, try to reach goals so desirably that amid this point of destination they lose themselves and the whole meaning of their exsistence. As a result a hero just sacrifices his life and in a way destroys his existence.