My Hero(s)

Do you remember elementary or middle school when most of us had to do some sort of project or write a paper on our "hero" in our life (in my case, several times). Every time it was this internal struggle of whether to pick your mom or your dad, or some relative, maybe a friend those were the typical options as a small child. We were always told to pick one hero in our lives and write about them or speak about them etc. One hero...why? In Psychology the subject of heroes came up in discussion and it was said that "a hero is a person who is in the right place at the right time, one time". So now we have two restrictions in our perceptions of a "hero": we can only have one hero and a hero is simply someone in the right place at the right time. No! I am surrounded by heroes-to have just one hero would be miserable. My friends and family are my support beams, they are my heroes because they keep me going everyday, they give me a reason to live. And then there are the unsung heroes in society, not just firefighters, doctors,police, EMTs; what about your mail person? Your fellow custodian? The factory worker in the background? We forget about these people that keep our society, our economy, us as individuals-alive. You mail person keeps you connected, allows for a web of communication, love, business, even that junk mail you can't stand (it has to serve some purpose). Your custodian keeps you out of your own filth, keeps us civil, and allows our quality of life to be livable (we know that some of you would not survive without them...c'mon guys). And the workers we always take for granted because we are in a world where everything just appears on a shelf for us or online - its awesome! But because of this incredible availability to consumers, we forget about the people that make those goods that we use everyday possible for us. Does the definition of hero have to be set in stone? Is it subjective? To me, a hero is personal- there is no right or wrong, black or white, just a whole lot of light when everything else seems dark. So I guess my definition of hero is one word: light. Light helps us to see, light is the warmth that keeps us alive. A hero is a light. So find your light and don't let it go out. Don't shut out important people in your life. Love and be loved (and never be afraid to sound cliché if you truly believe in it).
A Duck Inspired