Of all the issues complained about in this modern day in age, the pettiest one by far, is the fact that people do complain.  The point is well understood: people have struggles here and there of various depths and intensities.  The fact, however, that all our generation seems to do is whine about them rather than facing the world with valiance shows simply how weak humanity has become.  So what if someone is a bully? So what if life is hard?  The point to be made is not that society’s petty problems do not matter; the point here is contained within a simple question: are we going to mark this as the generation that spoke yet did not act?

Whatever happened to the humanity that faced the universe with rebellious grace?  Whatever happened to the humanity that would refuse to fall without the most magnificent of fights?  By all means, it did exist.  All across history lay examples of pure humanity at work, humanity that wouldn’t roll over and die when someone called it “fat” or “made fun of it”.

With all due respect, I introduce to you the top seven most amazing humans who would never cower down beneath the world; the top ten most indomitable, yet unheard of, men and women in history.

7. Miyamoto Musashi:

During the Civil War time period of 16^th century Japan, rouge swordsmen were a common occurrence to the island nation.  These fighters would meet each other in duel for little more reason than to prove their skill and show off to the world.  One of these swordsmen, Miyamoto Musashi, became so skilled he literally wrote the book on dueling, known as the Book of the Five Rings.  Fighter by fighter would fall beneath Musashi’s blade as his swordsmanship would outdo them all.

So why was he so amazing?  Well, as he took hundreds of lives, he began to recognize just how sacred each and every soul was.  So what did he do instead?  He picked up a wooden sword and continued to wreck havoc on the greatest fighters, leaving their deadly blades useless to what was little more than a stick.  Just imagine the disgrace of his enemies as these master warriors were beaten to a pulp by a man holding nothing but a toy.  Few people from history could have the audacity to face enemies in such a way, yet the humility to keep from taking a life.

6. Boudicca:

What is a girl to do when one of the fiercest armies in history shows up on her doorstep?  What is she to do when that army tears through her lands and kills her people?  What is she to do when they beat her to near-death and rape both of her daughters?  To this Celtic princess, the only answer was to make them wish that they had never been born.

Boudicca led her tribe of Celts against the unstoppable Roman army, and her battle wasn’t even just a “last ditch fight”.  This princess burnt London to the ground.  The fact that this tribal leader sent the Romans running with their tails between their legs earns her a nice spot on the countdown, not to mention a nice perk for feminists.

5. Michael Malloy:

In reality, this ridiculous Irish drunk does not really make a great case for the human race, but with all the attempts on this guy’s life, he sure earns a spot as one resilient fool.  Malloy was known around bars in New York as a heavy drinker, and this caught the eye of some sneaky insurance investors.  They took out three life-insurance policies on the man and then “gifted” him with an unlimited supply of alcohol, thinking he would drink himself to death and they could collect the money.  What they did not expect was for this man’s iron belly to put away an entire day’s worth of drink without even a hint of giving out.  Hoping to speed up his death, they poisoned his drinks with everything from antifreeze to turpentine to rat poison.  The old fool would drink it all until he passed out, only to leap back up to his feet and go for another round.

The investors then attempted to freeze him by dragging his passed out form into the snow for a night.  Still, he lived.  They tried running him over at 50 mph, which hospitalized him, yet within a few weeks, he was back at the bar, asking for his drink.  Finally having enough, the men shoved an exhaust pipe down Malloy’s throat and pumped him full of fumes for an hour until he finally breathed his last breath.  The irony, though, is that by the time they finally killed him, the police had found out about the men’s plot.  Even though they finally succeeded in the end, their eyes saw a lot less “green” and a lot more “gray”.

4: Jack Churchill:

War could truly be marked as one of the few things that reveal who we really are on the inside.  For some, a hero is born; for others, a coward perhaps.  Then, there are the few that prove to the world just how much of a maniac they truly are.  Of all the sane souls ever lost to war’s grasp, Mad Jack Churchill captures this idea the best.

While his friends were marching into battle with rifles and cannons, Churchill would charge the enemy lines, armed with nothing more than a longbow, a sword, and most intimidating of all, a set of blaring bagpipes.  Sure, the man was mad by all definitions, but one could hardly argue with his results.  In 1943, Churchill and a corporal accomplished a massive feat, capturing 42 German soldiers and a mortar in Sicily with nothing more than his meager arms.  The man was fearless and vicious in battle, surviving the war with his overwhelming belligerence to earn the renowned Military Cross.  When the bombs finally fell on Japan, he uttered his most famous line: “If it wasn’t for those damn Yanks, we could have kept the war going another 10 years.”

3: Ching Shih:

Is it possible to write about the renegades of human history without the mentioning of a pirate?  Of course not.  By far, the most amazing of these firebrands was the Chinese corsair, Ching Shih; however, her story did not being all that impressively.  As a prostitute on the Chinese mainland, she caught the eye of the powerful pirate Zheng Yi, who took her as his wife on the seas.  As she participated fully in the “family business”, Shih was left in charge of Zheng’s fleet of ships once he perished.  Unfortunately for the Chinese, who were mildly pestered by her husband, Shih decided that it was high time to make herself noticed.

Throughout her career, she pillaged and plundered the coastal villages of China to the point where she established all but formal control over them, while her fleet of almost 500 ships terrorized the coasts and brought fear into the heart of China, frightening even the European countries that traded there.  The empire itself, as well as the navies of Portugal and England, sent attack after attack to put an end to her rampage.  Every one of them failed, and she even captured sixty-three of their ships in the process.  It was not until the Chinese government finally offered her an official pardon to get her to leave them alone that she finally settled down into retirement, rich with stolen money.  Just think about that; the efforts of one of the most powerful empires on earth were crushed by little more than a bandit, and they had to offer her an apology just to keep her from hurting them.  If that is not an impressive feat, what could be?

2: Agustina de Aragon

Success like Ching Shih’s is remarkable in its own right, but on the scale of honorable deeds, bravery far outweighs victory.  An ordinary Spanish woman, Agustina de Aragon, rose up and proved her bravery to the forces of Napoleon himself.  During the war between the Spanish and invading French empire, Agustina worked to feed the soldiers of the city of Zaragoza, a prime target for the attacking army.  Quickly, the French pushed in to defeat this last city of Northern Spain and establish their dominance.  Agustina was bringing food to the Spanish gunners when the defending line fell apart, causing the soldiers to panic and retreat from the cannons as the French mowed down the front lines.

Agustina, however, was not to be defeated.  Dropping her basket of fruit, she charged forward to an armed cannon and lit the fuse, tearing apart a crowd of advancing enemies.  As she valiantly held off the attack, the Spanish defenders rallied to her aid and pushed back against the French.  After a gruesome battle and an astounding recovery, the attackers finally retreated, leaving Agustina as the hero that led one of the few victories against the Napoleonic Empire.

1: Daniel Inouye:

Without doubt, WWII holds some of the most amazing stories of bravery and heroics, but few went to the lengths of this man to reach victory.  While assaulting Tuscany, Italy, Daniel Inouye’s squadron was pinned down by German machine guns.  Rather than seeking cover, Daniel leapt up to fire back, taking a bullet to the stomach in the process.  While his torso spewed blood, he charged the enemy lines with grenades and destroyed two of the three machine guns.  By the time the second was down, however, he finally collapsed from loss of blood.

However, that is just where his feat begins.  Instead of lying down to die, this resilient man continued to crawl towards the last nest of Germans.  Just as he was about to throw his last grenade, an enemy fired a missile that blew his arm in two, with the grenade still in it.  Before the lost appendage could release the armed grenade, he pried the explosive from his own severed hand and tossed it into the bunker.  With one German left, he fired his Tommy-gun with his one good hand and put down the last resistance.  And what did he say to his squadron once he finally settled down to recover?  “Get back to work!  Nobody called off the war!”

People were never born to sit and wait for the end to come as all our generation seems to do; they were forged in fire meant to blaze a path either to death or to victory, whichever comes first.  Does it feel like the world is throwing punch after punch to put you down?  Then stand back up and order yet another strike until you pass out yet again.  Does your life feel like it is controlled by those that rule the rest of the world?  Then build your own indomitable rule and make them beg for mercy.  It is time to stop crying over your lost hand.  Stand up, pry the grenade from it, and take life head on. I have revealed what humanity is capable of; now make this the generation that made the name of humanity not something to grow disgraced of, but one that showed just how powerful the step, the fist, and the voice of mankind truly are.