Admittedly, I have been struggling with what to write about this week.  Not that I don’t have dozens of themes rattling around in my head at any given moment and even more already written down just waiting to be refined into existence when the time is right.  But outside a loose plan to eventually dedicate certain topics to a given month, I generally find myself inspired in some unexpected way…usually by a current event or something dumb I’ve done recently (see earlier post ‘Irony or Incongruity?’).

Winter’s cold bite is holding on longer into spring than many think it should in Michigan, including me.  And running on the treadmill or elliptical just doesn’t have the same mind-clearing power that an outdoor run does.  And trust me when I tell you that I’ve needed some mind-numbing and mind-scrubbing the last six weeks or so.  So I ran outside today and that’s what I needed; as soon as the song ‘Heroes’ by Casting Crowns popped up in my playlist, I knew.

It’s pretty common to think of the less than one-percent of the population who serve in the military, others in the profession of arms, or firefighters and the like as heroes.  Justifiably so, in most cases.  In fact, I have a very good friend and mentor who, as a USAF Combat Controller, was part of the special operations forces participating in the Battle of Takur Ghar (Roberts Ridge); a deadly enemy encounter in Afghanistan during which seven Americans died and many others were wounded.  So significant has this man’s influence been on my life that a print of Keith Rocco’s painting “The Battle of Takur Ghar” hangs in my office in his honor, giving me the opportunity to tell others a small part of his story…one of courage, survival, and heroism.  But as I listened to the lyrics of the song, I was moved and reminded that heroism isn’t just about taking up arms to fight for others or running into a burning building.  It’s doing those everyday things, the little things and the big things, that make a difference.

She’s on her own, two girls at home
Thirteen years just up and walked away
And left her all alone
With bills to pay and mouths to feed
And every day she’s taking care of everybody else’s needs

But she’s finding her strength in the One love that won’t ever leave her
So she works and she prays and she loves and she stays ’cause they need her

These are the heroes, just ordinary people
Laying down their lives like angels in disguise
They’re weak but always willing
They dare to do the hard things
And in the dark and desperate places no one else goes
You’ll find the heroes

There are heroes walking among us every day…both the obvious types and the not-so-obvious types.  We often hear the term hero tossed around in sports, such as ‘heroes of the gridiron’; or when captivated by celebrities and business icons; and of course ‘super heroes’ who carried many a young person through tough times in old-school comics and have found new life in Hollywood re-creations that take our minds and hearts to another place for a couple of hours.  But there are other heroes…those fighting battles without and within.  Those who stand ready to do battle at home and abroad; or help those who cannot help themselves; or who remain loyal to their cause, even if that cause be simply to persevere with faith through dark circumstances in a dark world so that others may see something good.

I’ve heard it said, and have repeated it myself, that courage is not the absence of fear but rather it is the absence of self.  Norris L. Tibbetts perhaps put it better when he wrote “Heroes are those who are so interested in others that they forget about themselves.”  Easier said than done for many people, I expect.  The USAF Airman’s Creed states in part “…I am an American Airman…guardian of freedom and justice…my nation’s sword and shield, its sentry and avenger…I defend my country with my life.”  All other branch’s creeds state similar commitment and conviction.  Thousands of young men and women have given their lives in the cause for freedom and each Memorial Day we remember fondly, and with great sorrow, the sacrifice of every lost Soldier, Sailor, Marine, and Airman.  It is those courageous individuals, along with all others in the past and those still serving today, who stood toe to toe with our adversaries, offering themselves as shields for America to keep war from reaching our front door.  Each of them knew their duty and chose selflessness.  Let’s certainly not forget those heroes.

But let’s likewise not forget the ‘ordinary’ people who are heroes to many, or perhaps just heroes-in-waiting.

My daughter wrote a paper for school recently and named me as her hero.  It reminded me of a note she wrote to me as the holidays approached the year after I returned from Iraq.  In it she wrote “Daddy…I was really excited and relieved when I heard that you were staying home for CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!”   Like that note, I couldn’t read the hero paper without welling up with tears.  I was a wreck…I know the real me and how unworthy I am to be held in such esteem.  Yet to my daughter, I am a hero.  So whether you’re fighting crime, fighting the enemy, fighting debilitating disease, battling personal demons, or battling everything this world is throwing at you just to care for your children or family, remember that you are a hero to someone.  True love always involves sacrifice, and heroes aren’t afraid of sacrifice.  I challenge you this day, as German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote long ago, “Throw not away the hero in thy soul.”

Songwriters: John Mark Hall / Matthew West

Heroes lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Essential Music Publishing, Capitol Christian Music Group