Proust #30 Who are your heroes in real life?
A hero is someone who is admired for their courage, achievements or qualities. Way back at Proust #5 I told you about the kind of people I admire, so I kind of feel like we’ve already covered some ground here. Maybe it will help if I narrow the focus a bit.
When we talk about heroes, we generally refer to someone who has shown extraordinary courage in the face of danger. These are the ‘good news’ stories that we all love to hear. When it seems like everything on the morning news is tragic or depressing, we all perk up when the news anchor starts to tell a tale of heroism. Sometimes it feels like all we ever hear about are plane crashes, military conflicts, and most sadly, another school shooting. The world can be a dark place.
Maybe that’s why superhero movies have always been popular. Just when you think the movie makers have run out of heroes, they remake an oldie, write a sequel, or dig deeper into the comic book archives for a lesser known hero. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman, Thor, the Incredibles…it’s a very long list. I think most of us must be hardwired to want to see good triumph over evil. We need to have hope in our lives. We need something or someone to remind us that there is goodness in the world. But if our hope only came from superheroes, we’d be disappointed because, well, superheroes aren’t real.
But there are heroes, real life ones who do amazing things. Police officers, fire fighters, paramedics and soldiers top my list. They put themselves in danger every day to make sure other people, you and I, stay safe.
Just a little more than a week ago, a group of First Nations fishermen rushed to rescue the survivors of a whale watching boat that had capsized in rough seas. They are heroes.
The young teacher who stood in defense of her students at a school shooting in Connecticut, ultimately sacrificing her life for those children, is a hero.
A young Chinese man who stood alone in front of a line of tanks in Tienanmen, China, is a hero.
I wonder what it is that compels some people to run into a burning building instead of away from it? To dive into the water to save a drowning person? Our instinct for self-preservation, for survival, is probably the strongest instinct we have. These people are incredible to me and I am unbelievably grateful that they exist, but I don’t think great acts of bravery are the only acts of heroism.
For as many stories as there are about great courage, there are probably a greater number of stories about small acts that made a huge difference. Don’t ever discount the power of kindness.
I’m sure you all know about the butterfly effect. A butterfly flaps its wings in one part of the world and weeks later the vibrations stir up a hurricane in another part of the world. I think kindness is like that. We offer a smile to a stranger, pay for the coffee of the person in the drive-thru line behind us, donate goods to a family who lost their home to fire. No big deal. But it is. You never know what your kindness may mean to the other person.
Kindness is contagious. Small, random acts of kindness spread. Paying it forward can create a ripple effect of goodness in what often seems like a very dark place.
You don’t need to be a superhero. You don’t need to be the world’s hero. Be kind, spread a little light, be an everyday hero.
