Hero: A person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements.
I was watching a film the other night, and one of the heroes came out with this statement “There Are Only 4 or 5 Moments In Our Life When We Become a Hero”. Got me thinking.
I bet if I were to stop you in the street and asked you to spare me two minutes of your precious time to answer a simple question. “Name me four or five of your heroes who would they be?”
Superheroes – they’re not real
My guess there would be a proportion of fictional characters in your answer. Batman (not sure about Robin whoever is?) Superman, the marvel comic gang who I can’t remember, Batwomen (love the outfit) Capt. America, and last but not least as I’m British James Bond to name but a few.
But these fictional characters. Or, as my five-year-old granddaughter would tell me “their made-up grandpa, there not real, look, I can twist ‘Barbies’ head right round, and she can still talk to me!”
I’m reminded of the scene from ‘Toystory‘ when Woody drops the bombshell on Buzz Lightyear that he is “a toy, a children’s plaything.” It does not stop Buzz going to “infinity and beyond”.
I’m no hero?
The worlds and galaxies of our superheroes are light years away from the reality we live. There’s a great song by ‘M People’ (sorry I’m showing my age) called “search for the hero inside yourself” check it out here. The chorus goes like this.
“Search for the hero inside yourself, search for the secrets you hide, search for the hero inside yourself until you find the key to your life.”
I just searched for it on Spotify and played it, made me cry.
So, who is the hero inside of you? What secret do you hide? My guess if you are anything like me, we do not see ourselves as a hero. But we are. Through our selfless actions and deeds, we perform daily to others.
Helping your neighbour when her lights have fused, and she has six people for dinner that evening.
Buying the stranger, a coffee on the next table because he looks lost.
Helping your daughter with her homework and fixing the puncture on your son’s bike to get to his football match. Everyone a heroic deed.
My Hero
They may not be life-saving in the real sense, but to your neighbour when her guest arrives and the lights are working it certainly is, as she kisses you on the cheek and says “you are my hero”.
The stranger walking out into the cold night air after finishing his coffee, take solace in a random act of kindness and promises to do the same for someone else one day.
Your daughter getting merit for homework and who could forget the grin on your son’s face scoring the winning goal. You are in their eyes, a hero.
Who have you touched?
Sometimes it takes the voice, and acknowledgement of others to find the key that unlocks your life. It will never be the blockbuster epic production, that wins you an award, that accolade comes from those people sitting in the audience who you truly touched with your kind words and actions. No false kisses and fake smiles here.
These are the genuine people, family members, friends, neighbours, work colleagues, and even a random act of kindness to a stranger whose name you never knew are all packed into the front row ready to acknowledge their hero.
And, as you walk up to the podium to accept your award. What will you say? If it were anything like me, the first minute, I would be crying (just like I did at my daughter’s wedding in front of 120 people).
But, as your eyes gaze the front row, you see familiar faces, others are strangers, but they look familiar. They rise to their feet, clapping and cheering. The words struggling to come out of your dry mouth, wiping the tears away you reply.
“I had no idea so many people would think my actions were worth applauding”.
Never the big things
It’s never the big things in life that have the most impact, time and again listening to my clients; it’s the small acts of kindness, unselfishness, and caring for a fellow human being that shines through.
“The only thing worth doing is what we do for others.”
Alice, in ‘Alice through the looking glass’.
Finally
To sum up, going about our daily lives with the added challenges of COVID is hard. But we have the ability every day to contribute and make a difference in people lives. Just giving a smile can do it, giving up your seat on the train to someone can do it, and saying please and thank you can always do it for me.
So, my challenge to you is to go out into your world and make a difference, inspire, motivate, and contribute to your family, friends, neighbours, work colleagues and that random stranger that you have not met yet. You never know who you might become a hero too.
Thank you for taking the time to read. I appreciate it.
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