Everyday Heroes

Do you wish that you could be a superhero? Imagine possessing powers like Superman or Spider-Man! Impossible, yet I look around and I see everyday heroes.

Memorial Day Weekend is here. It is the official start of the summer season, with beaches opening and barbecues beginning. It is also a time to honor our young men and women in the armed services who sacrifice a great deal for our safety and freedom. It is a time to remember past soldiers who fought bravely for our nation. They are all truly heroes.

Our police and firefighters keep us safe and rescue us from danger when they are needed. They are heroes.

But I also find heroes in ordinary people.

The middle-aged couple who lost their jobs because of the slow economy. He now drives a taxi and she helps an elderly woman complete tasks that her gnarled hands and weakened legs can no longer do alone.

The woman who tends to her ailing father when suddenly her spouse becomes ill. After weeks spent recovering, he returns to work to find that the company he was employed by for over twenty years was bought by another company and his salary has been cut by forty-percent.

A father goes to work everyday and while sitting at his desk eating lunch, he quietly says a prayer for his son in Afghanistan.

A colleague suffers the loss of her husband after a long illness and is now leading a bereavement group to support others through their losses.

The small child that comes to school each day in a motorized wheelchair and, although burdened by physical difficulties, completes his assignments and smiles at all the cafeteria ladies.

And the aid that stays with him throughout the day, helping him with his books and pencils. She picks him up at the bus in the morning and safely sees him back on the bus at the end of the day.

Who is my personal hero? My great grandmother. I never met her but have heard her story many times relayed by my family throughout the years. Her daughter went to bed one night and never awoke. She left four small boys without a mother. Great grandma had little time to grieve. Through the Depression and World War II, she raised those boys until they grew into good and kind men. One of those boys was my dad.

Did any of these people possess super powers? Are they superheroes? They are the everyday heroes that live and walk among us.