There is a song I heard that begs us to believe in heroes. When I first heard the song, that line always bothered me. I would think to myself that there are no heroes and I would laugh at the stupidity of believing in them. I was obviously not "in a good place," and I was very wrong. There are heroes and we should believe in them.

Our heroes do not have to larger than life supermen or women. They do not have to be widely known; they do not have to have done great and public works. In fact, I think the best of heroes are those ordinary men and women around us that appear extra-ordinary in our eyes. Heroes can be anyone around us, men or women, young or old that have some characteristic or some thing about them that inspires us to go beyond the ordinary ourselves. These people may seem flawed and broken to others - and indeed may very well be, but to us and through our eyes they are true heroes. We see in them the noble, the self sacrifice, the goodness, the mercy, the thoughtfulness and intellect; the great qualities of mankind stuffed into someone we can touch and hold, someone who smiles at us and loves us, someone who is human and not just a character on the page or screen*. We need these heroes in order to see our own potential and in order to pull our lives up and out of the mire of the everyday world. And it really doesn't matter what others say about them, what matters is what we have seen, felt, experienced from them. What matters is what we have been witness to in their lives and how it inspired a desire in us to be better than we are or have been.

What got me thinking about this subject was my oldest son. His life is not what I would want it to be and it seems to be going nowhere. Not through inability, but through choice. I have faith that he can and will accomplish much good in his life, but right now, at this time, he seems to be a some sort of holding pattern. He has a hero, and it is my desire that he begin to emulate his hero's positive qualities. I know he has sports figures he looks up to, musicians he looks to ( that perhaps he shouldn't emulate), but it is his grandfather who is his real hero. And that is a good thing.

As an aside, I do think it is important that males have male heroes as much as it is important that females have female heroes. I do not think that men cannot or should not have female heroes, but there is an important gender specific role model aspect of a male hero that is important for the male. And visa versa for females. In this way it is especially good that my son has his grandfather as a hero. This does not exclude the females in his life, but rather enhances him overall.

Am I jealous that it is his grandfather that is his hero and not me? I wouldn't be human if I didn't think about that a little. But then again, having his grandfather as a hero does not exclude me as a hero, and as I said above, it rather enhances his life overall. It is the seeds of love and family that his grandfather planted ( I know because I was there), the love he gave to my son, that I hope will one day awaken my son to fulfill his own purpose. It is the lessons that I saw my father-in-law silently give my son that I hope will inform him as he matures. I hope that whatever lessons my son took from me will likewise be positive, but I have no hope that my son will ever just say so. In fact he never directly says his grandfather is his hero, I have just seen it in his eyes and heard it in the way he speaks.


*Granted, this is a human oriented thought. I don't mean to exclude or minimize the importance of Christ of other Biblical heroes. Heroes of all kinds are important, I just wanted to highlight the importance of male role models to younger males and the role that heroes know on a person level can be very powerful in an individuals life. I know that the heroes I have have played that important role in my life. I can say that my heroes range from my Dad to my father-in-law and in that regard I have experienced the power that an older man's life can have in helping me choose the right thing to do. Do I always choose it? No, but that doesn't take away from the person I hold as a personal hero, it reflects on my character. Do I know that the heroes I have chosen are flawed? Certainly. I don't have to work hard to pull up some very bad memories of my Dad, but the point is not what they did that was or was perceived to be wrong; the point is the positive lessons I learned from the greater portions of their lives. Yes, I willfully choose to ignore or forget the "bad" things they did, because in the larger context of their lives I have come to realize that those things were unimportant and certainly not worthy of me spending my time on. I would rather remember and idolize the good deeds, habits, character traits, etc that I saw and experienced to help guide me in everyday situations. If someone were to ever point out those flaws and to try to trivialize my hero because of their flaws, I would think that it would reflect rather poorly on the person denigrating my hero. Not because I live in a fantasy and don't realize that my heroes were indeed human, but because I think it would be petty of a person so try to soil a precious memory of a person I hold so dear to my heart.

Anyone have any thoughts about this subject??

One wonderfully tired and over used way to start the new year is to look over the past and project what the future may bring. And any who know me - the few and not so proud - will realize that I can project the gloomy and dreariest of futures. Maudlin seems to capture it. Well then, where do I see myself, say five years, in the future?

If I am still alive, and barring any divine intervention, then this is my projection. Living alone in an apartment or a double-wide (Double-wide Mobile home for all those fortunate enough not to know what I meant). Driving a "beater." Sparsely furnished abode, but with a computer and one or more gaming systems. Maybe taking some adult ed classes at the local tech school just to fill out my nights. Fatter.

At this time I am comfortable with this prediction. Honestly, I will just have to see what time brings, but it will be interesting to see how much I got wrong or right in this brief scenario. And, I believe in Divine intervention, which leaves me plenty of room for hope (even if I don't feel it at any particular time).