So it’s two days after the election and here i sit in a dive hotel outside D.C that looks like a slightly more modern version of “The Shining”; bloodstained carpet and all. I couldn’t take it anymore. I’ve turned off my phone. I can’t take reading the vitriol on both sides; “friends” calling each other racists, nazis, and every other insult imaginable. Yes I voted before coming to D.C. and anyone who knows me can well guess who I cast my ballot for. Nonetheless, I am tired of reading the fracturing of relationships so off went the phone and I turned on the television and scrolled until I came across a PBS marathon of Inspector Morse. In one of the episodes, a part of a poem was recited; one I used to know but has slipped into the either of my mind. So now here I sit at my computer smoking an e-cigarette and trying to put into words something thats been rolling around in my head for over a month trying to find cohesion. A few weeks ago, I got to witness the Chicago Marathon and with what I saw, a few terms have been rolling around in my head since;
Hero
Heroism
Heroic
We use these terms on an everyday basis but what do they really mean? The answer, is often elusive due to the perceived subjectivity of the terms. I’d like to give my definition based on what I saw that day by way of three examples plus one from a man I have been honored to know in this life.
Hero. A person who exemplifies the other two words. Like Aurelius wrote; “Of each particular thing, ask what is it in itself? What is its nature? What does it do? A hero is a hero because there is no other state he can exist in. To be otherwise would violate their very being. I have been privileged to know one person in this life who fits that model; we’ll call him Doc for lack of a better term. When being a combat Marine wasn’t enough of a challenge for him, he became a Navy Corpsman saving lives on the battlefield. While driving home one night, he saw a car on fire and, although still recovering from an injury, pulled over to make sure the driver and passengers had gotten out of the vehicle (they hadn’t) so he got them out. When the call to service came again, he volunteered for Iraq with his law enforcement department and was severely injured in the process. Doc is the kind of person who would give you the shirt off his back if asked and MAY think to ask why you needed it after it had already been given. Doc is a hero indeed, dedicating his life to the protection of others even if it means taking life to do so.
Heroism. An act of selflessness with an emphasis on action which I will come back to momentarily.
Heroic. A state of being, however transitory or permanent, to face adversity to achieve a goal for a selfless reason even at personal risk.
The three examples of the words Heroism and Heroic are what I observed during this years Chicago Marathon that have been bouncing around in my head that I’d like to share. During the Chicago Marathon in 2015, an old man who was running had a heart attack on the course. While other runners literally ran past him, one woman, a total stranger, stopped and began performing CPR keeping him alive until the paramedics arrived and saved his life. In 2016, they ran the marathon together. Without her, he wouldn’t be here and despite his prior experience, the old man refused to let that be the last word and ran (and finished) the following year. I got to meet both and walk with them to their starting gate amazed at the determination. Many of us would and probably are saying “I would have done that (CPR) too but MANY did not when they had the opportunity to do so. The last is also a woman who, due to the diagnosis of a loved one, put herself to the task of not only running the Chicago Marathon (and this woman HATES running). She did it with a charity team and pledged to raise money that provides funds for research and support for persons affected by a disease that literally robs you of yourself; brain cancer. She doesn’t see a penny of the money she raised but did it anyway as a way to do anything that might make the life of those diagnosed and their families a little better. During her training, she developed medical issues of her own. Around mile 18 on her training runs, her foot began to swell and caused intense pain. She thought she could make the last eight miles with the pain. On the day of the race, however, the foot began to swell and the pain began by mile one. By mile eleven, she was in tears and told me she wanted to quit; I stayed silent, I would have supported her either way but she had to make the decision.I watched her take a deep breath, wipe her tears, and continue on for another fourteen miles. I couldn’t have been prouder of her if she had placed in the top finish times when she showed a warrior spirit and left me with the medical bag by the side of the road.
So in the end, what do we have to show for the three words listed above?
An immutable way of being
A refusal to stand down and face his fears of prior experience
A selfless act and a promise to look after someone previously helped
A promise kept to herself and those who supported her despite the pain
So while writing posts in social media, please remember that you are writing about people who you know and, for whatever reason, wanted in your life in one way or another. As I look at the clock I also see that the day has changed and it’s now Veterans Day so please take a moment even if only in silent prayer for those who have served and continue to serve our nation regardless of who’s elected.
The quote that got me going on all this?
“ That which we are, we are
One equal temper of heroic heart made weak by time and fate but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”
Ulysses
Alfred Lord Tennyson
Sent from my iPhone
