When I was growing up, I considered Clint Eastwood, the movie actor, to be my hero, I suppose.  I watched every movie he made and counted the days until his next film appeared in local theaters. This included The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, A Fistful of Dollars, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Dirty Harry, Sudden Impact, The Unforgiven, Gran Torino and more. I guess he was a hero to me because he was larger than life in his roles, something that inspired me in some ways, but then he was simply an actor, and may have nothing to do with his character in real life, and what do we know about the man’s personal character in real life when cameras are not rolling?

I suppose I had other heroes that were larger than life.  One of them was General Chuck Yeager, the first man to break the speed of sound in a jet, and a WWII fighter Ace, shot down over France who escaped with the help of the French Resistance. He was a fearless test pilot, who flew nearly every aircraft that you could imagine.  In fact, I met Chuck once, and with his West Virginia drawl told me something like, “Nice to meet ya, son. Keep flying”.

And there was Colonel Ollie Cellini, who flew with General Claire Chenault of the famed Flying Tigers and the China/Burma/India group. Colonel Cellini was a patient of mine and I learned a lot about his heroism in the war, and had the pleasure of sitting down with him before he died at age 106. It turns out he was awarded the distinguished flying cross multiple times, and was friends with Chiang Kai-Shek and Madame Chiang Kai-Shek.

And finally, the doctors, nurses, technicians and hospital staff who saved me from immediate death in 2013 when I was laying on the floor are my heroes.  And they know it, because I told them this many times.

Clearly not all heroes are war heroes that are filled with uncommon valor in the face of extreme danger.  Certainly. the men and women of the armed forces are heroes who have sacrificed much for us.  My medical colleagues, including doctors, nurses, technicians, as well as paramedics, fireman and police all can be considered heroes who have sacrificed a lot of their lives during this Wuhan virus pandemic that has scourged the planet, changed our lives and killed so many.

I suppose then, we need to ask ourselves, do we need heroes in our lives—certain specific people we can name as heroes to look up to, and if so, what words do we use to describe them?  Without question, I believe those words most commonly include courage, although there are varying degrees of courage displayed in our daily lives. But how many of us have within us the conscious self-sacrifice that has within it something much larger than self-interest or self-preservation for our own good?  And I might add, does deep love give us the courage we need to be larger than ourselves?

The late John McCain wrote: We are taught to understand, correctly, that courage is not the absence of fear, but the capacity for action despite our fears.

We don’t all possess this virtuous courage filled with self-sacrifice for others, despite our own peril.  I know I have fallen short in the courage department in the past, and sometimes have let my fears influence me to fall short in certain areas, and when I look back, I wish I would have acted differently sometimes. Admittedly, these were not usually life-threatening situations that others have faced.

However, I don’t dwell on the past, but instead I realize that we are put on this earth to make a difference in the lives of people who surround us, who perhaps in different ways, would benefit from our help, or perhaps, our gifts to share.  You see, after my Near Death, God gave me a second chance that not many others receive, and I am aware that I must use this second chance given to me by the Almighty, to use the skills and blessings he has given me to make the lives others better.

And here is the answer, finally: We do not need to search for specific heroes in our life that we can name and emulate.  It is nice to know them and look up to them, yes, but we do not need to search for them and depend on them.  Instead, we must Strive to be a hero ourselves.

We must awaken the hero within us, no matter who we are, or how small we think we are. You don’t have to sacrifice your life like a soldier hero with uncommon valor, but instead, strive to make someone’s life a little better, even if it takes a little time out of your busy, self-absorbed day, and while we do it, we must do it with humility.

So here are a few examples of how you can be a hero, or if not a hero to someone else, at least make a difference to others:

1. If someone in your life does something extra-ordinary for you, tell them: “You are my hero.”  Or, “I appreciate you.” Then, smile and wish them a good day.
2. If someone is struggling to get their car out of a snow drift and you are late for work, stop and help them, even if you will be late and your feet are soaking wet.
3. If an old man is out in the blowing snow, struggling to shovel his driveway, stop what you are doing and go help him, even if your back hurts.  Then smile, wish him a good day and walk away.
4. If one of your colleagues is alone, or hurting during the holidays, forget your comfortable warm home, and go over and bring them a hot meal or invite them over to your place.
5. If one of your colleagues is doing something special with his or her talents, which may exceed yours in certain situations, be confident, swallow your pride and say, “You did a great job, I am impressed with you.”

I think you get the idea now.  You see, I have gone through some suffering and brutal loss in my life, however, I am no different than millions of others who have experienced suffering.  I am blessed with a second chance in life, and I realize that there are many others who have it worse than I do, and I need to remind myself daily to maximize that second chance by using my blessings to try make a difference for others in this world, when I can.

And then, after that, I can enjoy a glass of red wine, smile, and thank God.

© SRCarson Publications. 2022