Columbine, 9/11, Sandy Hook, and the Hero of the Hudson are all great examples of heroism in modern society. Today's modern day hero has similarities and differences than the Anglo-Saxon hero. The two heroes each have different values they believe in. Also, they are motivated to fight for different reasons. An Anglo-Saxon hero also fights differently than a modern day hero. An example of this comparison is Bono from the band "U2" and Beowulf. Both modern day heroes, like Bono and Anglo-Saxon heroes, like Beowulf, try to improve their societies, but do it in different ways and for different reasons.
Anglo-Saxon heroes have only a few things in common with modern day heroes. One of the things is that they both want to improve the society that they come from. "That I, alone and with the help of my men, may purge all evil from this hall" (Raffel 260-261). This shows that Beowulf fights to make his society a better place to live in. In their current state, everybody was always in fear of Grendel, and the population of Hrothgar was decreasing. Even after Grendel is slain, Beowulf goes to find and slay Grendel's Mother, and the dragon. The modern day hero tries to improve their society as well. Bono has many foundations set up and is always thinking of way to help people weather it be traveling to other countries or donating large amounts of cash.

Another reason why they are similar is that both Anglo-Saxon heroes and modern day heroes are very strong. Beowulf displays his