On Heroes and Such

Lance Armstrong - All American Cheat, Liar and Bully 

I've always felt odd because I was never on to this hero adulation that the media always hypes.  I never "got" the whole Lance Armstrong thing, even before he was revealed to be nothing but a liar, cheat and a bully.

I was slammed by some because I dared to criticize Beyonce for lip synching at President Obama's inauguration.  "Why Ron, everyone does it."  So that makes it right?  Well no, actually.  It was fake, just like her hair extensions.

Beyonce - lip synching or not? Only her manager knows for sure.

Then there is the story of Manti T'eo who "dated" a beautiful college coed for three years until she sadly died of leukemia after surviving a terrible car wreck.  She died the same day as his grandmother.  Then it turns out Manti never actually met his "girlfriend" in person, only through the Internet.  The "girlfriend" was fake, a hoax. So this story, all geared to gain sympathy for the "hero" Manti T'eo was fake.  

Manti Te'o - another Hall of Fame Liar

Then we go down the line of other fallen heroes like Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, John Edwards, Bill Clinton, ad infinitum.  See where I'm going here?  

Then there was the ultimate "hero" - Lance Armstrong (great name for a hero no?) - a cancer survivor who went on to wing seven Tour de France titles.  It seemed to good to be true.  And, sadly, of course, we now know it was.  

CNN has a series of programs called "Heroes" or something like that.  That just makes me feel icky. Real heroes don't need to be celebrated.  To me having a program celebrating heroes just doesn't seem right.  Well I'm glad to find out that it isn't just me.

Mark McKinnon, the former Republican strategist who worked for George Bush (of all people, see how "balanced" I am) came out with an excellent op ed yesterday on heroes (from which I have borrowed excerpts for this posting).  See here for his full op ed.

This quote from Mark's op ed says it all for me:

"The lesson we should pass along to our children is that the real measure of heroism should be the deeds we do when no one is watching. It's the things we do for others without any expectation of compensation, recognition, or reward. It's the small, quiet footprints we leave behind."

I see real heroes almost every day. 

The "hero" that volunteers their time at an animal shelter to make the life of an abused animal a little better.  

The "hero" that finds homes for abandoned and stray cats and dogs.

The "hero" who is helping the victims of Hurricane Sandy clean up their homes so they can live in them again.  

The "hero" that spends their own money and time to help bring together family members to heal old hurts and renew loving relationships.

The "hero" that volunteers their time to pick up the litter and trash along our public highways. 

No, you won't see Anderson Cooper celebrating these "heroes" on his TV show for high ratings.  

As Mark McKinnon said in his op ed:

"I think we've got it all wrong. Athletes and entertainers aren't heroes. They are mere mortals with talent and ambition. In a hyper-competitive world, they are driven to almost always bend the rules in the pursuit of all that fame brings with it. And then when they achieve fame, they think they are no longer subject to the boundaries that apply to the rest of society."

Daniel Hernandez, Hero

Daniel Hernandez, hero

Of the many heroes from the awful tragedy of the Tuscon, Arizona shootings was one Daniel Hernandez.


Daniel Hernandez is an 20 year old intern  who had only been working for one week for Representative Gabby Giffords.  


Daniel is widely credited for saving Representative Giffords life by dashing through the hail of bullets from the madman to cradle Representative Giffords head and apply compresses to staunch the bleeding until medical help arrived.  


Last night at a memorial service in Arizona for the six victions of the Tuscon shootings, Daniel Hernandez was recognized by President Obama for his heroism.   Daniel showed incredible poise when he rose to speak he said while he appreciated the recognition he had to reject the term "hero".  He said simply "I am no hero" and then he eloquently spoke of the real heroism of the first responders, police and other civilians on the scene who helped to save lives.   When President Obama rose to speak he in turn rejected Daniel's rejection and rightly pointed out to the 26,000 audience that Daniel was a hero and probably saved Representative Gifford's life by his quick thinking actions.

People like Daniel Hernandez are the real heroes in our society.  Another hero was Patiricia Maisch.  This grandmother, although wounded, had the presence of mind to prevent the shooter from loading another clip of 31 rounds of ammunition into his automatic gun.  

Patricia Maisch, hero

It is with some irony that I note that Daniel Hernandez is an openly gay man.  With the recent repeal of the Don't Ask Don' t Tell law, Daniel's actions on that tragic Saturday morning last week reminds us that perhaps, just perhaps having a gay man in the foxhole next to us in combat does not deteriorate troop cohesion.  

In fact, I want this grandmom in the foxhole with me.  

Think of this.  Here is this gay man who is Hispanic and overweight.  How many more strikes can one have against him for not meeting the stereotype of the macho Marine guy?  

And the grandmom, Patricia Maisch who crawled across the ground, wounded to prevent the shooter from loading another clip of 31 rounds in his gun?  

It is time we leave stereotypes behind and accept the fact that everyone in our society contributes to the greatness of this country.  Straight, gay, men women, white, black and Hispanic.

We're all in this together.  

We are one.

Heroes of the Day

Del Dot Roadside Litter Pickup Crew Volunteers on Oyster Rocks Road November 27, 2010

We hear a lot about heroes these days.  


Pictured above are my candidates for heroes of the day.  


You won't see these heroes featured on Anderson Cooper's "Heroes" program.  


You won't read about these heroes in the newspaper.


You won't see these heroes presented with an award by President Obama.


No, these heroes don't fit in any of the above categories.


These heroes are a group of fine folks who have volunteered to pick up the trash that is strewn aside our beautiful roads here in southern Delaware.


I was returning to my home off of Oyster Rocks Road, east of Route 1early this cold and windy afternoon.  I had just spent about two hours teaching my elderly friends Bob and Jim how to use e-mail on their new computer.  Jim and Bob live in a doublewide about two miles outside of Georgetown, on Anderson Corner Road on twenty-two acres of scrub woodland.  I'm always disheartened when I drive over to Bob and Jim's when I see the amount of trash and litter that lies along side the road towards their place. Today was no exception.


Thus it was with a glad heart when I crossed over Rt. 1 towards my home off of  Oyster Road when I saw a group of chartreuse day glo folks picking up the litter on Oyster Rocks Road.  


Oyster Rocks road off of Rt. 1 goes back two miles to the Broadkill River.  Bill and I had just driven back there this morning for an early morning ride on this breezy and chilly Saturday and I was again disheartened by all the littler along the road.  I was especially saddened to see a full mattress tossed into the beautiful, natural wetland growth.  I mentioned to Bill "How can anyone take their old mattress and toss it along side the road in such natural beauty?"  Bill said nothing because he understood as I do, there are basically two types of people on this earth:

• Those that litter
• Those who don't and who pick up the litter of those that littert

I am in the latter category.  


I myself have on several occasions traveled down the length of Oyster Rocks Road and picked up crushed beer cans, empty cigarette packets, plastic soda bottles and plastic bags.  The last I drove the length of Oyster Rock Road and picked up two full trash bags of litter.


Bill has given up on picking up the litter.  In fact he becomes angry with me when I pick up the litter.  So I have to sneak out and pick up the litter.  However, lately the amount of litter has even overwhelmed me.  Now, when I pick up the litter I pick up the Usual Suspects:  beer cans and plastic soda bottles.  I leave the rest.  The topper probably came when there was the slaughtered, cleaned carcass of a deer (head included) tossed aside the road right where the Broadkill meets Oyster Rocks Road.  


When I drove past this happy group this afternoon and turned into my development.  Then I thought "I want to thank them for what they are doing today."  I turned around and drove out of my development and caught up with them farther on down Oyster Rocks Road.  I pulled my car over to the side of the road and parked it.  I got my camera and got out and motioned to some of them to get their attention.  A couple of them turned around to see what I wanted.  I said "I want to thank you for what you're doing today.  Thank you very much!"  Everyone burst out into big smiles, me included.  This is what the good life is all about folks.  Good deeds and people being acknowledged for their good deeds in helping their fellow human beings making this planet a better place to live.


In unison a chorus of smile greeted me and several put the thumbs up sign.  I thanked them again and asked if I could take their picture.  Someone said "Sure!" and they piled up in the flatbed of the pickup truck and posed for this wonderful picture.  


I told them I was going to write about this in my blog and asked if I could use their picture.  Again another hearty "Sure!"  


I thanked them again, gave them my card, and after giving them a thumbs up sign I left, my faith in the goodness of the human heart renewed.