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Today's
Meditation:
Our
modern media and entertainment industries continue to
barrage us with their ideas of what "heroic"
means: killing bad guys and saving people from
terrorists; defusing bombs and blowing up buildings or
saving someone from ferocious beasts or psychotic
murderers. The writers of
these works are trying to do mostly one thing: make
money by exploiting our desire to live vicariously through
actors in situations that none of us probably will ever
see. And most of us buy into this idea of heroism
and realize that we never will be a "hero" as
people in Hollywood or Madison Avenue see heroes.
I
don't have any superpowers and I don't have a license to
carry a concealed firearm, so does that mean that I never
can be a hero? Absolutely not. It's up to us
to define "heroism" for ourselves, and it's up
to us to become heroes on our own terms. We can be
heroic in our imaginations, but that type of heroism
doesn't help the people we meet in our day-to-day
lives. We can be heroic in small, almost
insignificant ways, too-- giving to others and helping
others to be happy or fulfilled in their lives. Our
tiny acts of heroism won't make someone happy, but perhaps
they can relieve some of the stress or worry in another
person's life so that the person can find happiness more
easily.
In all my time on this planet, I've never seen
someone else raise a gun at another person or become
involved in a high-speed chase in a major metropolitan
area in order to capture bank robbers. But I have
seen many people practice heroism on their own small
scale, and I know that I have a richer life for what's
been given to me personally on a small scale than for what
some "hero" has done to save humanity on a great
scale.
Just
because I can't save the world doesn't mean that I can't
be a hero!
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