My 7-year-old son's fascination with superheroes stirs up old feelings and memories inside me. When I was his age, playing "superhero" meant 3 things:
1) A Costume. With a cape, naturally. It was THE telltale sign.
2) Special Powers. One entire summer I could shoot lightning bolts from my fingers. I got my lightning powers from my Dad's expensive black leather winter gloves, which were re-energized whenever I dipped them in a mud puddle. (Dad discovered them, all brown and crusty, in December --- not a pleasant memory.) I also pretended to have super strength, vision, hearing, speed, and flying powers. I never wanted the ability to become invisible, though. After all, the whole point of being a superhero was to receive...
3) Recognition. In my young mind, heroes' costumes and abilities should be seen and admired by all. Wasn't that what made them heroes?
Hollywood is resurrecting old-time fantasy heroes for entertainment (most recently Captain American and Green Lantern), but it seems that the modern definition of the word "hero" keeps getting shallower. People today commonly idolize celebrities because of their talents, lavish lifestyles, or eccentric behaviors, and mislabel their idols as "heroes." Is anyone else out there tired of the shallow, meaningless fluff that networks and publicists think we should get excited about?
The purpose of this blog is to recognize TRUE HEROES, unsung, everyday heroes who go about their unselfish deeds under the radar. These are the "givers" hidden among us who, in big ways and small, unflambuoyantly put the wellbeing of others above their own. I am on the lookout for untrumpeted love, stealth kindness, and inconspicuous sacrifice, and I intend to post what I find on a daily basis. Let's see how it goes for a week, anyway. If anyone out there wants to comment about similar findings, I'd love to hear about recent unselfish deeds of real heroes you've observed in action. July 4th is a great time to start a Hero Watch.
Today's Hero: I saw many selfless acts today, but I'll go with my son-in-law, Isaiah. During our 4th of July family cookout, he volunteered to play in the back yard with the little ones (not a small group) so other sunburned parents could relax in the cool indoors. He wasn't roped into it; he simply chose to serve. He didn't do it as a duty either. He gave it his all to give them a really great time. What a dad, husband, uncle, brother-in-law, and son-in-law!
We had some friends from church over to discuss water baptism. Tgey have two kids, girl, 5, boy, 3. Gabe (who's 4) often goes outside to play by himself. They didn't want their kids outside without an adult because get don't know our property well, and their 3 year old is a typical, curious, uncautious little boy. As the adults sat out in the yard by the pond (about 4 feet deep, 50,000 gallons or so!), the kids were totally enthralled in the pond. There are goldfish, toads, tadpoles galore, so there is so much to peak a child's interest. As the adults were talking, the 3 year old decided to throw his fishing net into the pond. He then decided he needed to go after it. He stepped in the pond, and directly out. Thinking (I'm sure), "well that wasn't so bad!" (the pond has a nice one four ledge before it has a steady drop off). He then threw the net in again, and went after it, only this time he went a little too far and kept going down, down, down. Scott and the parents of the boy all jumped up at the same time but Scott ws in the water in no time, scooping the boy out of the water, spitting and sputtering! All but one little tuft of hair on the top of his head was wet!
ReplyDeleteI wasn't there to witness it, but when Gabriel woke up in the morning, he said to me, "Mommy, Sam went in the pond! I don't know why he went in the water! But my Daddy rescued him!" in his eyes, Daddy was a hero!