HEROES AND COURAGE

     It seems that we toss the word hero around very casually. Should not a hero do something awesome, out of the realm of ordinary, something that changes the world, changes the equation? Well, yes and no. Hats off to those who will run into a burning building or save someone from a train or car. Hats off to those soldiers who will save their fellow soldiers and as far as I am concerned, simply for having the courage to walk or run or crawl into battle.
     But there are other, quieter heroes that we often do not meet, whom we do not appreciate as they work quietly to change something. Could be personal or public, but they are heroes. It is the quiet ones who wake up every day and know that no, things have not gotten any better, but on they forge. It is the quiet one who shoulders the burdens that life has placed on their shoulders and live a different life from what they had imagined. These heroes are not the characters of praiseful songs but praise is what they deserve and recognition is what they should have.
     One of the most heroic people I have ever met is a woman whom I met in my physical therapy location. Slowly, I have gotten to know her and her story and I bow before her courage. It is a place filled with laughter and tears, with people working hard to fight mainly the PD that has afflicted them, but she is a tougher situation.
     She has a syndrome that comes with three stages, none of them good and the final one is dementia. She knows it is coming. She feels her body stiffening and becoming less flexible, yet there she is, singing to the music, working hard, achieving a small victory of movement, encouraging others, going halfway across the country to meet with others with this rare disease and to meet with an expert in it. Clinical trials. Working hard. Determination. A kind heart and a brave soul. Always smiling. I bend my knee before her in acknowledgement of her courage, of her heroism and can but only try to emulate her in my own cause as well. She is a hero. In fact, so many are heroes in this place.
     A hero is one who survives something awful and then has the courage to pick himself or herself up and do something. There is a bulletin board outside a nearby church which admonishes people not to just stand there. Sit here!  It is the encouragement to join forces with others, to fight for what one truly believes in and just look at those kids from Parkland, or the little 11 year old who spoke in DC. Look at the parents who have lost children to violence as they continue to live and have chosen new paths. 
     These are heroes, just as much as the lauded burning building person, but these heroics are ones that can change the world in a quiet way. This is not to demean the louder heroes, the more public heroes, just to ensure that we realize that there are others out there. Look around in your private life and see them. See the person struggling with medical disasters year after year as anything that could go wrong does go wrong and yet - there she is, still in the fray. See the parent operating with quiet desperation and determination as she/he fights to take care of a child in a disastrous situation.
     See the Iraqi farmers in a small hamlet who had the courage to defy ISIS and see the price they paid - and they knew it would be coming. See the immigrants, you know, those terrible people, taking the challenge to find a better world for their children - just as our family ancestors did and all of them demand our admiration. I am in awe at my grandmother who came all by herself at 17 with no family here, no friends, just herself and a determination to leave the Old World behind and begin a new life for herself and her future family. I admire these brave souls who stand up to the might of a now backwards government which operates on hatred and prejudice. Which separates a mother from her children. Who persecute and prosecute selectively - the brown skinned person from Central America and its violence over the other illegals. It is the unfair and cruel decisions to throw out Americans and yes, after all these years they are American and a piece of paper is not needed to prove it. To the Dreamers. To the Hondurans, 57 thousand of them who have grown up here, made lives and careers, gone to school, have jobs that help others. To all these people we need to give honor as heroes in a new rougher world, a world that does not honor fair, justice, rights and any other good thing one can think of.
     And it is in those who tell us by deed and action that we, too, must stand up and be heroes, not give in or give up. It is to a hero like the Teacher of the Year 2018 who read her speech on CNN when Trump refused to allow her to do so at her own ceremony and why? Because she spoke of admiration for the kids who are outliers, who are being demeaned, called names and who have lost much of their feeling of safety and security under this president and his awful minions.
     It is in the quiet heroism of Michelle Obama as she stands before a huge convention of women and remind them that it is WE who allowed this to happen. It is the woman who refuses to believe another woman. Or who is jealous of another who has dared to attempt to do something; it is the woman who challenges the one who has the courage to finally speak out against harassment. It is the woman who refuses to believe that another woman can do it better. Better than she can. Better than the opponent can. Better than a man.
    Time to look around and see the heroes in your life. Are you a hero? Not so hard to be one, truly. And think of the steps the world will take back on the correct path and think how you can help another, be a quiet hero and think how you can be a hero unto yourself in your own battles.
     Heroes and Courage. They come in all sizes.