As per my username, my favorite Community line ever is in the finale when Jeff says "I'm sort of a hero that way" because it's slightly cocky and perfectly Jeff; it's so simple yet SO impactful and ties the entire show so beautifully.
Jeff starts his life as a narcissist, thinking he's cool and powerful cuz he can fool the juridical system by faking his degree and getting away with it. It's what he tells his father about himself after decades of not seeing him because that's what Jeff deems to be the prideful accomplishment of his life.
But after 6 seasons, Jeff learns that being a hero is simply living everyday. It doesn't take big achievements, he doesn't need to dazzle anybody to feel seen. He doesn't need to write "You're special" on his bathroom mirror and stare at it until he believes it.
He's simply a hero for letting people into his life and learning how to love others. How to love himself. How to continue pushing forward in life.
And it's so simple. Because like Jeff said once, the truth isn't life-shattering. It's painfully obvious.
It's simply living life. And that makes his entire story so deeply relatable.
Because in the end, we're all like Greendale students. Sucky people working on ourselves to be less sucky.
Friends can't carry you, they are there to pick you up and support you but you need to walk your own path. This takes time and it never gets perfect, never gets predictable. But we can still be okay. Because we’re all afraid of the same thing. So none of us is ever actually alone.
Jeff realises that he does indeed have tools to face anything the future throws at him. It's a newly found confidence he can now use as his life ring buoy. He can slowly learn to trust himself and his own capacities again. Not be dependent on others.
Jeff is a hero for having gained those tools. For having worked so hard on himself.
And we're heroes for that too.