Sacrifice is an unimaginable death for anybody to put this or her hands on. To risk a terrible death for something one believes in is a crazy and incredible thing. The person that ends up sacrificing his or her life for others is truly a hero. Sacrificing ones life for another is by far the most ultimate sacrifice any human being could possibly make. Readers witness this act of sacrifice in the novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Sydney Carton, a drunkard and cheerless man, did exactly that. “For you, and for any dear to you, I would do anything. I would embrace any sacrifice for you and those dear to you” (Dickens 285). This is what Sydney Carton tells his love, Lucie Mannete when he comes to visit her. At that moment he does not realize the even greater sacrifice he will end up making. He takes Charles’ place in the guillotine. By this act, he believes it will be the greatest thing he can do to make his life significant. Three other people who, through their deaths, gave the ultimate sacrifice with acts of courage and selflessness are Joan of Arc, Man in the Red Bandanna, and Jesus Christ. To begin, Joan of Arc was a strong, brave, and courageous woman that stood up for what she believed. “I was thirteen when I had a Voice from God for my help and guidance. The first time that I heard this Voice, I was very much frightened; it was mid-day, in the summer, in my father’s garden” (Pettinger). After that Joan knew that she was going to have to be the one to make a difference to help defend France. Everyone thought it was quite outstanding that a young seventeen-year-old girl would be willing to take control of an army and lead them into battle. After a year of becoming head of the army Joan lead the French to many victories as in Orleans, Patay, Reims, and Troyes. For her leadership Joan of Arc and her family were granted noble status. A year later she was accused of witchcraft by the English and members of the French clergy and threatened with torture. When the trial ended she was found guilty and was condemned to death by burning at the stake. As Joan of Arc once said, “One life is all we have and we live it as we believe living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying” (Pettinger). In contrast to Joan of Arc there are people who unwillingly know what there future might be.
To illustrate that point, another heroic person who put others before himself and has demonstrated the perfect amount of courage and sacrifice is Welles Crowther. Many people may know him by as ‘The Man in the Red Bandanna.’ Crowther earned this nickname because he always carried a red bandanna in his pocket while working in the upper floors of the south tower at the World Trade Center in New York. On the morning of the attack on the Twin Towers he was wearing it, so henceforth and forevermore the survivors call him ‘The Man in the Red Bandanna.’ On September 11 at the age of only 24 Welles Crowther became a hero. His tower was hit and he immediately took action. “He was the cowboy coming in to save the town. In this day and age we have no real heroes, here was a young man who basically gave his life” (Man in the Red Bandanna). He tried to help as many people as possible to the stairwell and lead them to safety. He saved many innocent lives and will always be remembered. "He could have taken the easy way out. There are a lot of situations in everybody's life where you can take the easy way out. You can just go with the flow and you can do what everybody else was doing, but he really listened to his gut. And was a hero for it. So I kind of look at it from that standpoint, I think all of us could do that a little bit more and make more of an impact in the world" (Shirek). An even bigger impact is seen in the Christian world
Finally, one man known worldwide takes the final spot on being a true hero. He is known as Jesus Christ. “Jesus of Nazareth, also known as Jesus Christ, was