Heroes

Where have all our heroes gone? When I first began grade school, my older brother was at the same school, three grades ahead of me. We’d ride our bikes home together (with him constantly yelling at me to catch up) but then, we had the house all to ourselves. We’d fix ourselves a snack and flip on the old RCA black and white television.

That TV only received four five channels — one of which was the Public Broadcasting Network which only showed some fuzzy-headed goofball teaching viewers how to paint landscapes. I mean, who on Earth ever actually watched that?! But on channel 11, it was time for the afternoon line-up which included my favorite, Superman. (Batman didn’t premier until four years later.)

I remember being in awe of mild-mannered Clark Kent and how he could instantly change from a business suit into his red-caped superhero outfit in a cramped phone booth. He had muscles. He had brains to outsmart the crooks. And, he had Lois Lane. He was the good guy who had it all. Even when channel 11 began showing Superman reruns like “Invasion of the Mole People” who emerged from oil wells, Superman remained my idol.

For a brief while, my dad was my hero. After all, he’s the one who always fixed my bike and aired up my basketball and even helped me with my paper route on Sunday mornings. But in my teens, I was too cool to view my dad as a hero and then I went off to college where they sucked all my brains out and convinced me how much more I knew than my parents would ever know. There were new heroes to worship like Woodward and Burnstein, and Jimmy Carter, and Willie Nelson. But, in the end, all those folks turned out to be common, self-serving human beings.

It took thirty years before it dawned on me that my dad had been a real hero, especially given the obstacles life had thrown his way. I slowly began to recognize a different group of superheroes — those who had met life’s challenges either through unwavering faith or via a gift of persistence — those who never gave up — those whose example gave me the will power to overcome obstacles.

Today, I still remain in awe of a man named Ben Carson. You may or may not remember him as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development during Donald Trump’s first term in the Whitehouse, but don’t let the TDS distract you from understanding who this incredible man really is.

He’s a black man who grew up during the heyday of racism. Carson’s father abandoned him, his brother, and his mother very early on. His mother had an eighth-grade education and worked double shifts as a hotel maid to make ends meet. The small Carson family lived in one of the most despicable public housing projects in American history. Still, he managed to surmount every obstacle in his path and become not just a respected doctor, but a neurosurgeon, and not just a neurosurgeon but the most prestigious neurosurgeon in the world. And through all those accomplishments, he still remains a humble family man, married to his wife, Candy, for over fifty years.

Today, I have a multitude of heroes, all with the same tenacity and humility of Ben Carson.

One of them is an uneducated (and intellectually challenged) man, older than me, who still works five days a week as a busboy at a local diner in order to support himself when he could easily be drawing thousands upon thousands of dollars in government hand-outs.

One is a middle-aged neighbor who overcame her lifetime agoraphobia and took on a job to maintain the home she’s lived in since birth but re-mortgaged to finance her husband’s medical bills before he died.

One is a pastor who founded and still leads a dynamic and sincere church, dedicated to serving instead of judging. Instead of fame, he seeks opportunities to serve. Instead of tightening his grip on the organization, he’s mentoring a diverse group of potential replacements so the organization will continue serving long after he retires.

One is a banker who provides full-time care for his elderly mother while not only helping manage a successful bank but keeping that bank ahead of the escalating technology threats. Did I mention that he also finds time to volunteer as director of least two non-profit boards?

I could go on and on about heroes who are overcoming the physical, psychological, and spiritual anchors life chained them to, but you’d get bored because you would only know “about” these people and that’s nowhere near the same as actually knowing them personally.

Stop and take a look at the heroes lurking in the shadows of your life. Make some notes about them. Then, I’ll buy you coffee or lunch just to hear their stories. Maybe, they’re someone I’d like to meet. Maybe my heroes are people you’d like to meet. Let’s make the connections.

A meeting of great minds who think alike