WHO IS A HERO TO YOU?

      I might as well admit it- I'm the self-proclaimed captain of the "word police" and I am frustrated by the way in which the word "hero" is being used these days.
      My father flew a plane to the front-lines in the European theater of WW2. His plane was shot at on many occasions and he had more than one hair-raising experience.... but he was NOT a hero. At least, that's what he told me. As part of what Tom Brokaw calls "the greatest generation," dad did not believe that a man who did what he was supposed to do was a "hero," and he didn't say that out of false modesty. Doing tough things, even brave things, were part of what a person needed to do when circumstances demanded it. There was nothing heroic about it. If you had to hunt for your food during the depression, you did; if you had to let a few die to save the many, you did; if you had to work extra hard to make up for your lack of education, you did. To dad, men who went to war were simply following the call of duty. My dad had more courage than I do. He never backed down from anything, but he didn't think of himself as a "hero." In his view, he was a good soldier... and I think he would agree that he put country ahead of self, but he never responded to any call to be a hero.
      There are heroes, of course. They are those who voluntarily and repeatedly put themselves in harm's way for the sake of others... or who willingly sacrifice themselves so that others might live. Soldiers who throw themselves on live grenades are heroes. The man who volunteers to go back down into a mine for a person who can't save himself; the holocaust prisoner who volunteers to die for another prisoner; people who give all that they have so that someone else will get a chance and then cheer them- to me, these people are heroes! It is one thing to do what you have to do, and it is quite another to put others ahead of self, especially if that means dying for them.  Honorable men and women should always be called "sir" and "ma'am," and our entire way of life is based on the work and sacrifice of those who put duty ahead of self. Each of us should reach these levels of maturity, but those who knowingly give up their own lives (or put them at risk) so others can live... are rare and precious.
      To me there is a difference between really good firefighters and a heroic firefighters who rush into a tower of fire because they must save life! Perhaps I'm nit-picking. Self-proclaimed policemen do that, but I fear that we diminish real heroes when we use the term for those who simply do things for others once in awhile. Have we reached the point where anyone who takes the time to do something for others... is a hero? Are we so self-absorbed... that any act of kindness surprises us? I pray that "knowing that we're in this together" and "being neighbor" to one another is a standard that we will all reach. There is nothing heroic about being a nice, or responsible, or even a giving person. Let's save the label for those who have earned it.