The one thing the world needs right now

The super-hero movie franchise is at its best. There is always a new film about some super-human saving the Earth and the reason for this is simple: everybody loves a hero.

Everybody loves that person who goes above and beyond to bring about positive change in people's lives. A modern day hero - no spandex, cape, mask or ridiculous, unimaginative pseudo name, instead they are represented by the good cause that they fight for and the values that they stand for and it is this type of hero that the world needs today.

A modern day hero is a person that the youth and even the older generation look up to and aspire to be like, a person who fights for peace, equality and freedom and social change without actually “fighting” at all and a person who is a natural born philanthropist.

In these volatile times where violence and conflict are used to achieve peace, when war is the answer to terrorism and people are dying on a daily basis from disease and famine, the world needs an activist or activists seeking to bring about a new world order.

Princess Diana and Mother Theresa were heroines.

They gave hope to a suffering world and embodied all the values that many leaders and public figures in the present day do not possess. They went out of their way to contribute to charitable causes and make a positive difference in the lives of the suffering and they did it all with an unmatched poise, grace, care and gentleness. They had that one characteristic that all comic-book heroes have, that is, they had people believing in them.

Other heroes that have come the world's way are Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Ghandi. Both fought for human rights, liberty and equality and have had a massive influence on people's lives. Although Mandela is thankfully still with us, he is no longer the most active freedom fighter and even though the chances of another person of his calibre coming around are very slim, it is such a person that the world needs.

The ideals of passive resistance and treating each and every person as an equal, no longer have a human vessel to keep them alive and that is one of the reasons why the world is as troubled as it is today.

Our leaders, celebrities and philanthropists are not driving social change the way that these heroes did and this is why we need new people, new role-models to help steer the world in the right direction.

This all may seem a bit too utopian and that there is no way that one or two people can just spring up and change the whole world, but they can have a positive influence, which is sometimes all it takes. Also, these “heroes” do not just appear out of thin air, rather they are ordinary people given the power to do extraordinary things. - Independent Newspapers Cadet School