Prologue: A Lost Age
Many view writing as simply a hobby, just a trivial thing which serves only to entertain. Many look down upon writers as people who got nowhere in life, because there is little money in store for those who choose to write for a living. So frequently do those people overlook the fact that writing has caused some of the most influential events in history; Uncle Tom's Cabin was considered to be a cause of the Civil War. Thomas Paine's Common Sense pamphlet shared his views of an American nation with the rest of the world. The Fireside poets created works that would transcend time and last even into the present age. Not only does writing allow a person to share his views and emotions with the rest of the world, but it gives us an outlet to escape our troubles and go into a completely different world.
There are countless volumes and books in this world which tell tales of valor and courage amidst countless odds, and of heroes who died defending their beliefs and loved ones. They are looked up to and revered; every "common" citizen wishes to be like these flawless beings. Often, it is those same people that we see every day - the face you see passing you on the street, or the one living next to you – that have the greatest impact on the world.
Each life is like a book, from the prologue of newborn life to the epilogue of death. When a new child is born, the blank pages of its life are ready to be written upon. Every choice, down to the tiniest things, shapes that story into a novel. Some books are open for all to see and read, while others are locked, which only a fortunate few obtain the key to open. The fringes of some books are laced with gold and silver, and have many pages and chapters, such as these people that we deem as heroes. It is so often, however, that though ornate, those books contain nothing but arrogant rambling. Why, then, is society so interested in reading them? Perhaps it is because they need a cause to believe in, or because they have nothing else in life but to look wistfully at what they could have been. Whatever the reason, there are far too many stories on the earth for one being alone to read in a single lifetime. One must choose his friends carefully, because the literature that he absorbs influences his own story more than maybe he realizes.
It seems that in the present age there is a great dearth of good literature; that is, a great shortage of men who have led truly remarkable lives, and whose story is worth reading by all. Some of those people who deserve to be called heroes are the ones who are never mad famous for what they've contributed. Their stories are like the books that collect dust on the top shelf of the library, which no one wishes to read because they are not exciting, or not dramatic enough. Though the annals of time are marked every now and then with a great landmark or achievement, usually through the actions of someone, all these people who are never famous or prominent will simply slip through the cracks of history, though their tale is the one most deserving to be told.
This is the story of one of these men; and though fictional, I hope that everyone who reads it is inspired to be the best that they can be. It is a story of how a single person really can make a difference in the world, no matter who he or she is, and that a person doesn't have to be famous or wealthy to change the lives of those around him.