Clara Barton
By: Sara Papa
A Hero for All Time
How was the American Red Cross founded and by who? Clara Barton was the founder of the American Red Cross and she was devoted to her cause. She was a helpful woman and would try to take care of others before herself. There are so many different ways you could call Clara Barton a hero. But there is one specific type of hero that has made Barton the woman we all remember today. Clara Barton is a hero for all time because she has changed our country drastically with her talents for helping people.
Adaptability
One of the characteristics that help make up a hero for all time is adaptability. Clara Barton’s older sister, Dorothy, suffered a mental breakdown. Instead of being afraid, Barton adapted to her sister’s illness and learned how to deal with it. Barton also adapted to the work atmosphere where the men in the U.S. Patent Office called her a “Pest in Petticoats”(19). She did not like this but she still ignored it and kept on working. Clara Barton has adaptability and has one of the characteristics of a hero for all time.
Hope
The second characteristic that helps make up a hero for all time is hope. She had hope for soldiers to be taken care of, so she chose to be on the battlefields tending the wounded. This took both courage and hope in order to do this sort of task. Barton had hope for the soldiers, so she carried last messages from the soldiers. She would try to get these messages to their families. This proves that Clara Barton had hope for the war, the soldiers, and herself. This makes her a hero for all time.
Perseverance
The last characteristic to complete a hero for all time is perseverance. Clara Barton had perseverance when she went through thousands of letters from different families. She had done this so she could locate each soldier’s family and reunite them. Even after all Barton has been through, she was determined to make an organization called the Red Cross of America. She learned of this organization from her trip to Europe. Perseverance had made Clara Barton a complete hero for all time.