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Sunday, November 29, 2009

Heroes


The World needs more Heroes

I listened to a thought-provoking presentation from a colleague at Toastmasters International on the subject of “Heroes” that in essence called for more heroes to help the world get through these awful times. You apparently don’t have to have x-ray vision, nor do you need to fly in any other manner than conventional, but the world needs heroes. He ended with the question: “Would you like to be a hero?”

This topic has stayed with me and caused me much thought. For instance, who or what is a hero? To my mind such a person would turn bad into good, and would epitomize fairness. However, a hero is a very subjective subject. To my horror I saw that the Libyan Lockerbie bomber was received on his arrival home as a hero. The 9/11 hijackers are revered as heroes by some, and so are those people who go out into crowds to blow themselves up, taking as many complete strangers with them as they can.

How can this be? It’s all in the eye of the beholder. It’s all in the faith of the believer.
CNN have been conducting their annual “Hero of the Year Award”. To this end they requested entries from around the world and received more than nine thousand responses. That must have been a very mixed bag indeed that had to be short-listed. They ultimately worked with a list of the top ten, and on America’s Thanksgiving Day the winner was chosen.

We have been seeing the profiles of some of the top ten, and the question that occurs to me is, how was it possible to discard any of the names. The one thing that stands out is that all of the contestants are doing wholesome and good work to aid humanity. The problem in selecting a winner is in the depth of their efforts and the impact that their work is having. However, not one of those nominated wanted the nomination for themselves.

No one can say that he is a hero and actually be authentic. It takes someone else to come to that conclusion. So, I add to the question “Would you like to be a hero?” a follow-on with the question “Do you think that you may be a hero to someone?” I would like to think that my wife might think of me as her hero for something I have done. I hope that my children think of me as their hero for something I may have done to make them proud. In saying that I am also saying that I hope I have lived my life to deserve such respect, and I imagine they may think in similar terms of their own lives.

I turned to the CNN Heroes programme midway through it in time to hear the stories of Brad Blauser, a man who has donated more than 700 wheelchairs to Iraqi children; and of Andrea Ivory, a breast cancer survivor with a smile as bright as the sun who is determined to save the lives of women by having knocked on more than 18,000 doors to get women to have a mammogram.

Then the winner, who was chosen by worldwide voting was announced as Efren PeƱaflorida, a young 28-year old man from the Philipines. Efren’s work is with children from the slums who he offers an alternative to gang membership. He started when he was 16 by having survived a confrontation with a gang lord because he didn’t want to join the gang. Now, working with very little money but an army of 10,000 volunteers who have been rescued, they are teaching slum kids basic reading and writing skills from a pushcart classroom.

He doesn’t consider himself a hero but he admits he’s completely dedicated. His work is certainly the stuff of heroism. All we have to do is read the stories of gratitude from those whom his group have rescued and the picture becomes very clear indeed. Congratulations Efren! Keep up the good work!

Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael