September 22

Written by Bill Grandi on September 22nd, 2021

First day of Fall! I don’t know whether to cry or to cry. 🙂  Yeah, I’m a warm weather person. Sort of hard to ride a bike with snow and ice on the ground. Anyway, right now we are in our 3rd of 40 days of rain. On the positive side, least it is liquid sunshine not white flakes. Okay…on to the devotion.

The dictionary defines hero as “a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.”

We hear a lot of talk these days about heroes. For the past year and a half we have been hearing about the front line workers who are heroes. Nurses. Police. Fire. Doctors. In my mind, they are heroes. Sadly, their heroism is being brushed aside and forgotten because of the vaxx mandate.  I will withhold comment.  🙂

I grew up with heroes. Comic books. TV shows. Athletes. Just like every other kid I had my favorites. Over the past decade the idea of a hero-a superhero- has been taken to a whole new level thanks to cinema.  Superman became Spiderman. Spiderman was soon enveloped by the Marvel universe of Iron Man, Captain America, The Avengers, and others. Batman rose from the comic book dead. Spiderman came back to life. Jason Bourne lived through mind games and countless fights and car chases to walk away each movie. The list goes on.

I think we need to stop looking to fantasy for our heroes and see them right next to us. They live with us. They work with us. They worship with us. They play alongside us. They are the mom and dad who love their handicapped child as though he/she is “normal.” They are the old man/lady who do their best to care for their mate who doesn’t even remember their name anymore. I recently read of a woman who took care of her former soccer-playing comatose husband for decades. She is a hero.

“Heroes come in every age and size,” Bob Goff writes. (#264-p.313). I’ve always believed that. I’m convinced, while we focus on the few who have prominent names, there are literally hundreds of thousands who go unnamed and unnoticed.

Heroes don’t wear capes (unless it is a dad playing “house” with his daughter). They don’t wear tights and have indestructible shields, and superhuman abilities to leap tall buildings. No…heroes are ordinary people doing ordinary things on ordinary days in extraordinary ways. Be a hero. Better yet…acknowledge one.

“Father, may I recognize a hero and not let him or her go unnoticed.”

 

4 Comments so far ↓

  1. Ryan S. says:

    I like the quote “Heros come in every age and size”…

    I think it is important to be reminded that we all have an opportunity to be a hero to someone every day. To a stranger that needs assistance, to our adult children who need encouragement or perhaps a helping hand. To our parents that may be living alone. To our spouses that need a little extra help in the day to day activities of life.

    Bill, as you know recently, my wife and I were in a motorcycle accident.
    Strangers stopped traffic within seconds and begin rendering assistance almost immediately. Thankfully the injuries and damage were relatively minor with my wife taking the most of the injury on her foot and ankle. A stranger took her too the hospital while I followed behind. Later that stranger’s husband picked me up and took me to pick up a rental car. Both heroes in my book.

    • Bill Grandi says:

      I am so glad people were there for you and Amanda in a very ugly time. Sure makes you realize there are still kind people in the world not caught up in the messes we face. I am, of course, glad you both are okay as well.

  2. Heroes are, and always will be, ordinary people who do extraordinary things. All we have to do is look around us to find them.
    Blessings, Bill!

    • Bill Grandi says:

      You are so right Martha. I wish we could/would always remember that. We might not put people on a pedestal who don’t belong there.