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Print Remembering the Heroes: "Ordinary" people can make a difference
by from 911remembrance.comCan you remember your childhood heroes?
Hank Aaron, Mother Teresa, Nadia Comenici, maybe even Mom or Dad. Their names come so easily to mind: Princess Diana, Michael Jordan, John Glenn, Martin Luther King Jr., Wayne Gretzky.
Sports heroes, in particular, have always held a special place on our mental trophy shelves. Possibly because we've watched them perform the impossible save, or complete the pass in the last lightning-stroke seconds of the game - to win everything. Witnessing the heroic means, well, it means everything.
On September 11, 2001, a new set of heroes stepped into focus. We know them by title instead of name. Fireman. Policeman. Office worker, stockbroker, computer consultant.
To our collection of sports figures, famous people and saintly historical images, we've now added flesh-and-blood heroes. People taking action in a dangerous world.
We know them by context: TV images of burning and collapsing towers, and once-elegant people covered head to foot in crematorium dust. We know them by stories: running up scores of staircases loaded with gear, waiting to let others get on elevators first, storming cockpits, donating blood.
In some cases, we know them personally.
Calling all heroes
Who were these heroes? They walked in places we walked. They were ordinary people who made mistakes sometimes and did things right sometimes. Theirs were the faces of friends and neighbors. They were a lot like us, save one difference: Their world collapsed around them and they acted out of interest for others.
Those "ordinary people" are the ones who made the events of September 11 so tragic, as well as so heroic. For out of the even, monotonous landscape of everyday life come occasional mountaintops of real need that we can address, or we can ignore.
Once, ordinary life seemed to detract from heroism. Now, we start to see everyday life, and every day's choices, as the training ground for heroism.
What makes a hero a hero? And can I be a hero?
A hero takes action in the real world. A hero sees a need and moves toward meeting it. Even in the face of real sacrifice. Like the firefighters who, on their way down the World Trade Center stairs, actually stopped so that the older woman they were helping could catch her breath. When the building came crashing down in front and behind them, their stairwell landing survived, and they were saved. A step faster . . . a step slower . . . and they would have been lost. Compassion saved their lives.
Or consider the case of Kristen Talbot, U.S. speed skater at the 1994 winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Any interruption in a training schedule can quickly wipe out medal hopes, yet Kristen Talbot chose such an interruption. Just weeks before competition, she donated bone marrow to her critically ill brother.
"After all," she said, in an interview with Johns Hopkins Hospital, "skating is just skating. It's important, but nothing is more important than life."
Kristen went on to compete but not medal in the '94 Olympics.
Making heroic choices
Heroes prod our sense of purpose: If she can accomplish that, what can I accomplish? And they cause us to see heroic actions all around us: The single mother who works and cares for her children. The parents who stay together and work things out. The athlete who continues training and competing despite physical and mental pain.
Qualifying as a hero may not depend so much on what we do, but on the intent behind our actions. After all, not everyone encounters history-making opportunities. But when we faithfully do what we need to do and still find time and courage to care for someone else - put another's needs first without regard for reward - isn't that the true measure of heroism?
As speed skater Kristen Talbot realized: When faced with the choice of personal glory or someone's life, life always wins out.
Reprinted with permission from 911remembrance.com. Copyright 2002. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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