do you have the greatest love of all?

 

"Every one of you has the potential to become a hero!"

I heard this comment made a few days ago and it has stuck inside my head since then. Various songs have been sung about heroes...Whitney Houston ("The Greatest Love of All") and Tina Turner ("We don't Need Another Hero"), to name a few. I look back throughout life and realize that in the past we have had movies and TV shows about "heroes"; today, however, not so much. In the past there have been many saints who have been examples of what being a hero means...again (sadly) today...where are they?

I'll tell you where they are!

They are the grocery store cashier who has been asked to stay an extra two hours because another employee has called in sick and there is no one to replace him. It is the police officer who has just delivered a baby by the side of the road. It is the firefighter who crawled into a burning building to rescue a child trapped on the third floor. It is the soldier who just completed his third tour of duty. It is the teacher who pulled into the school parking lot at 6:30 a.m. and who may not be home in time for dinner because she had to help several students who just don't understand the new math. It is the doctor who told his patient's wife the bad news:  that her husband has maybe six weeks to live. It is even that little child who sat out on the curb with a lemonade stand, raising money for a wonderful charity and doesn't keep even a nickel for himself. It is the artist who paints a mural on the side of a building in an inner city, hoping to inspire people rather than leaving negative graffiti in its place. It is the college student who is holding down a job and a half and still maintaining a 4.0 GPA to become something better than she is. It is that mother raising children on her own after their father walked out. It is that gentleman dealing with depression for whom getting up in the morning can be a real struggle. It is the woman who is trying to piece together a normal life after many years of abuse. It is so many people...who make up this thing called life.

Who is a hero?

"Everybody's searchin' for a hero...people need someone to look up to...I've never found anyone to fulfill my needs..."

A hero is you. It is me. It is all of us.

So when you see protests and people burning down businesses all because one of their own can't follow the "rules of life," but someone needs to place blame somewhere...that is not being a hero. But the police who need to control the crowds...the firefighters who need to put out the blazes, the National Guard who needs to restore order, they are the heroes. See? A hero doesn't have to jump tall buildings in a single bound...for some of us, just getting up and helping another in need is all we really need to do. That's it! Be an inspiration...be the one... why wait for someone else? Get in there and be the one!

We all have the potential within us to be a hero. As Whitney sang...."it is the greatest love of all...."