Importance of Feats

The feats as facts that allow us to escape from the daily routine.- We understand by feat (being feats its plural) to all that action that is carried out heroically, which implies a demonstration of values ​​such as courage, bravery but also the intelligence and the strength (in addition to many times the physical dexterity) that also breaks with the daily or daily routine of a person. In general terms, the feat is something out of the ordinary, extraordinary in the most basic sense of this word.

In this way, when we talk about feats, we don't have to talk about extremely complicated things, but rather they have to do with the possibility of doing something different that calls the attention and it is also positive, for example rescuing a kitten that cannot get down from a tree. The importance of feats is directly linked to the possibility that human beings have of experiencing various situations and the way we act in them: while some do it with cowardice or negligence, others act with courage and intelligence.

Deeds, a typical element of medieval identity

Although often vilified for its extreme religiosity, its obscurantism and its violence, the Middle Ages are rescued as a historical period precisely because of the stories and legends that exist about people who performed feats of great importance. Medieval feats often have to do with wonderful battles and clashes in the field, of warriors and noble knights as well as maidens and princesses who dared to break with their reality.

All of this, whether real or not, is an important part of the identity of the Middle Ages, a time when the performance of exploits and adventures was an essential part of the mentality. We can also find these issues in earlier times such as Antiquity when navigators and merchants traveled vast seas and oceans in search of wonderful beings.

The notion of feat today. How do we understand this concept?

Quite unlike what happened in the Middle Ages, in the present era the feats have lost a bit of their force in the societies in which they we live, in which everything is an endless routine of schedules and dates to meet but there is little space for courageous and adventurous actions.

However, we can talk about big and small feats that will have to do much more with decisions and searches. personal, such as being able to swim across a river or conquer wild spaces, travel, defend the planet, save animals in danger, helping others who need assistance, etc. All these issues are new forms of feats that have a lot to do with the world we live in today and are largely important for shaping our identity.

Photos: iStock – sudok1 / swissmediavision