Hello everyone,
So what is the difference between a paragraph and an essay? Well, simply put, an essay has the same structure, but offers more information in the way of supporting ideas than a paragraph does. Take a look at the following example of a paragraph and an essay. Write a comment on the differences between the two, or if you are still confused, tell me how.
Heroes: the paragraph
What is it that makes someone a hero? In my opinion, heroes are courageous people. For example, heroes are people who would risk their lives to save others. I think that the firefighters who went to the rescue in New York City during the 911 crisis are heroes.Another example of courageousness is when people are not afraid to say what they believe in even if it is not a popular belief. Think of Nelson Mandela and his attempts to change the laws in South Africa: he definitely has hero status in my mind. This point brings me to another about people who I believe are heroes; they do things in their lives that take great personal effort like the man who lost his leg in an accident but later climbed Mount Everest, or the blind man who ran a marathon. A hero can be many things to different people, but one thing that they have in common is courage.
Heroes: the essay
What is it that makes someone a hero? Firefighters who save people’s lives and properties on a daily basis could be considered a hero by some, but not to others. To some, firefighters are just doing their job. A person who risks his or her life for a cause, like saving whales, may be considered a hero by others. But to some a whale activist may simply be seen as an instigator. In any case, I think that everyone would agree heroes are people who steps up to the plate; people who have the courage to do what they believe is important for a better world.
Firefighters spend most of their days washing their trucks, playing cards with their fellow firefighters and joking around. But when they get to do what they were hired to do, to rescue people and buildings from the devastation of fire, they risk their lives to get their job done. Think of what the firefighters who were called to the 911 disaster in New York City. Those men and women fought with their lives to save the people in those buildings; and consequently, some of them lost the battle. Now, that is courageous.
Firefighters save the day, but some people have the courage to change a whole nation for ever. Nelson Mandela was a courageous man who fought for the rights of his own people for decades; even though several of those decades were spent in prison. The man had never given up his vision of how South Africa would be a better place without Apartheid. Now at 93 years old, I think it is safe to say that he is an extraordinary man and one of the qualities that make him extraordinary, in my opinion, is his courage.
Not all courageous people change the face of the world through their actions, like Nelson Mandela, but are able to change people’s vision of possibility. Tom Whittaker is just one of those people. Whittaker lost his leg in a car accident and he did not want his disability to limit his life. This man trained for 10 years to reach his dream; to climb Mount Everest. He tried several times before succeeding and almost lost his life trying. However; he did reach the top of that mountain to show the world that disabled people can have rich and lives. He had the courage to attempt unlikely possibilities, to challenge the status quo and open people’s eyes about what people with disabilities can do.
All three of these of these examples I mentioned here are completely different; yet all heroes in their own right. All three of these examples show what those with courage can do. What would we do without courageous people in the world? I think that the world would be an inferior place without these exceptional people.
