Some Random 10 Year Old Kid

When people think of a hero, most of the time a picture of an extraordinary adult performing acts of bravery and courage beyond a normal person to help others pops into mind. A random 10 year old kid usually isn't viewed as material to make a hero out of. And yet, as I attempted to think of a hero that has truly impacted my life in some way, a random 10 year old kid is the only hero I can think of that fits the bill. The one who impacted me the most I named "Danny", though to most people his (or if you choose, her) name is Red. The hero I am talking about is the main protagonist of the Pokemon games.

For those of you that don't know, Pokemon is a game where you collect different monsters by capturing them inside of little balls. The point of the game is to have the strongest Pokemon in the world of the game by battling other peoples' Pokemon to train yours. Along the way you'll encounter Pokemon Gyms, which contain powerful Pokemon Trainers (people who train Pokemon for battle) that you must defeat in order to earn a badge. The end goal is to defeat the four strongest trainers in the world - The Elite Four - all in a row.

You might wonder how a kid's quest for power acts makes him a hero, but he follows the path of a hero quite well. He gets a call to adventure to help a professor research Pokemon, and ends up exploring the unknown region with the help of his Pokemon allies. Along the way he goes through several trials, including the Pokemon Gyms, but also including several encounters with the Pokemon equivalent of the mafia. He has a final ordeal, where he must prove how far he has come by defeating the Elite Four to become the champion. Then, after the game is over, when you reopen it you end up back at home, having proven truly how strong you have become.

This game had a huge impact on me when I was a kid. I loved playing Pokemon, and even after beating the Elite Four I challenged them over and over again. Beyond that, various parts of the game influenced some of my views of the world. The main rival of the game, another 10 year old kid named Blue, was always obnoxious. He was extremely full of himself, and thought of himself as God's gift to the earth. On top of that, he was everywhere. When I was trying to rescue an old man from the mafia, there he was to insult me and stall me. When I was trying to safe the biggest corporation in the world from the mafia, there he was to crush my team and send me running. Worst of all, after spending weeks trying to beat the Elite Four, I finally succeeded, only to find out that Blue had beaten me to it and I had to fight him. He crushed my battle-weary team, forcing me to start from the beginning. He is most likely one of the roots for my hatred of people that are full of themselves. I have always viewed modesty as one of the most important traits in a person, and this annoying jerk is the exact opposite of modest.

One other value that I likely picked up from Pokemon is the value of hard work and determination. In order to progress in the game, you need to work hard to train a team of strong Pokemon, balanced in types of damage in order to beat any opponent in your path. The key word there is train. I've spent countless hours searching for encounters to defeat in order to strengthen my Pokemon. The resulting satisfaction of defeating several strong opponents is very strong. While on the surface these hours seem to be a waste of time, upon reflection I disagree with that view. I may have trained to excess on occasion, but I did have to work hard in order to reap the benefits of victory. The hard work that my character put in to succeed set an example for me to go off of for later on in life. Any achievement I've made has needed hard work, and it hasn't always been fun, but experiencing Danny's journey planted the seeds in my brain of what hard work can do.

Overall, Pokemon was a fun experience for me. On the surface, it seems to be just a game. However, at the influential age of 6, anything can have an impact on you. Many core values to my character, probably even beyond modesty and hard work, most likely stem from experiencing the hero of the game. Reality is much less set in stone during that time, so people like Blue and Danny were able to show me how to be (or not to be) a person. While I definitely enjoy many other heroes, I can say for certain that a random 10 year old kid is perhaps the most influential of them all to me as a person.