A Real Hero

Joan of Arc is my hero. Ever since I learned about her life, I have been fascinated with her extraordinary character and determination in the face of the more than overwhelming odds against her. Nevertheless, she succeeded in her task, and finished her life with great dignity. I admire her for many reasons, not the least of which is that she was just a young girl when she set about to save her country.

At the tender age of seventeen she began her journey towards the uncrowned king; trying to get an escort, getting people to believe her, and enduring persecution. She braved the ridicule of men three times her age, courtiers, captains and soldiers all for the sake of her belief that what she had to offer was worth the trouble. Her initial success in convincing one man to allow her an escort to go and visit the king was answered with anger from her family and a plot among the escort guards to kill her and return to the relative safety of their home.

You see, France was at war and had been for many years. The war had gone on so long and with so little success that the French people in some parts of the country had given up hope of ever regaining their sovereignty and had begun to accept the English rule and some even became complicit with the English. Joan, on the other side of the country, had never given up hope that she would one day see a liberated France and she knew in her heart that a vital step toward that liberation was for the people to have their Monarch placed firmly on the French throne. She knew that the people believed that without a crowned king, they were relatively leaderless and powerless against the enemy. But the place where the king must be crowned was held captive by the English and the king dared not to enter the city, and so was in exile awaiting the military victory which he believed would never come.

Joan believed that she had a message from God to the king that would change the attitude of the king toward himself and the war. This crucial information, she believed, would be the turning point in the war with the English and allow her country to break free from the occupation. She traveled through enemy territory for several days to reach the place where the king was in hiding, and amidst the jeers and unbelief of everyone present, miraculously singled out the disguised king whom she had never before beheld and delivered her message. The king was dramatically moved by the message and her recognition of him and believed implicitly that Joan was indeed sent to help the country. After many weeks of official examination by the priests of the area, Joan was allowed to lead an army to battle against the English.

In spite of the fact that her generals and captains were constantly trying to subvert her actions and decisions, Joan led the army to victory after victory, herself at the head, carrying her white banner. She personally wept over the dead in the field and she sustained several serious wounds, though she herself inflicted none. She succeeded in bringing the king to be crowned at his home castle in the once-occupied city of Rheims. The English, outraged at the success of the army after so many years of defeat and slow deterioration, were determined to stop Joan. Thanks to some of the French aristocrats who had become complicit with the English, a plot was formed in which Joan was to be abandoned by her own men and released to the English.

The plot was successful in that Joan was captured, tried and put to death. But it failed in that France continued to fight the battle which Joan had started and eventually regained their sovereignty, due entirely to the work of Joan of Arc.

She was just a girl; a very young girl. She had only a belief; a vision of what could be accomplished. She had the courage to stand to the death for what she believed in, not for her own sake, but for the sake of the freedom of her land and people. She didn't give up when people mocked her, questioned her, betrayed her, accused her and killed her.

She is not a cartoon superhero with superhuman skill. She was just a girl with an idea. It was an idea that cost her life, but in return, she restored her country's freedom, sovereignty and a chance to live like men. Not bad...for a girl.