Reality and fiction are not as different as most people suspect; the deeper, less conspicuous aspects of reality are to be found in all works of fiction, if one makes the effort to search for it. Every love story written relates back to the real-world emotions that people experience everyday: love, longing, desire, appreciation, and sometimes even fear of losing control. Every fantasy is based in some way on the events of reality. The existence of heroes and anti heroes is not limited to the confines of a novel or a movie theater screen, because heroes exist in the real world too.
"Heroes aren't always the ones who win. They're the ones who lose, sometimes. But they keep fighting, they keep coming back." Heroes surround us everyday with their selfless morals and belief in humanity, and anti heroes surround us too, displaying the will to alter events and make tough decisions that may not always be universally accepted. The holes in the armor of such heroes consist of the traumas and the hardships faced by them, and the strength associated with such heroes is the ability to live each day despite those hardships.
As demonstrated in fiction, not all struggles are against an outside force. Sometimes, the force to be reckoned with is simply internal. It is not until we are able to confront our demons that we are able to terminate their control over us. Literature, poetry, music, all works of fiction serve to appeal to our sense of self; we are able to see ourselves in the characters we read about and put ourselves in their shoes. Sometimes, the ordeals faced by characters give us the strength we need to confront our own problems.
Next time someone tells you to "get your head out of that book" or to "stop reacting so strongly to something that isn't even real," remind them that it is. Tell them that the ability to feel sympathy, empathy, love, or even hatred towards a fictional being is an exerted display of your own real humanity. Mention that all works of fiction were created by real people, and that the ideas that led to the creation of those fictional worlds are something that can be built upon by everyone who takes the time to emerge into them. Lessons learned from fiction can be applied to real life, and sometimes the things that we feel in real life may not be consistent with our thoughts when experiencing the same situation in a fictional setting. Fiction has the ability to change our beliefs, alter our boundaries, and reduce our need to put everything into a strict category. After all, "fiction is truth, even if it is not a fact. If you believe only in facts and forget stories, your brain will live, but your heart will die."
