A time for heroes

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AND just like that, October is coming to a close. Before you know it, not only is it Christmas, but even the second decade of the 21st Century is over.

In my younger years I always heard older people say that time seems to fly faster as you get older. Now I know what they meant. And much as I’d like to apply some breaks to Time, its hands swing past on their natural cadence and all we can do is strive to make the most of every day. And even every night.

One thing which doesn’t change, like the passage of time itself, has been nagging at me for weeks now. Well, actually not only for weeks; for months even. And this nagging thought has been made more “urgent” as I age (as I see the hands of time swing past the number 12 day in and day out) and as I see and hear and read about what’s happening, not only in and around our country but in and around the world.

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And that nagging thought is that now (as ever) is a time for heroes. Not the type who have to give up their lives to save the lives of others, but everyday heroes doing little, good things everyday in an effort (intentional or not) to make life just a little better for others.

Our country (the world even) is — at least from my perspective — in desperate need of heroes. Everyday heroes. Men and women of different ages and skin color and political and religious beliefs who have awakened to the fact that we are all in this together so it’s best to pull together than to pull each other apart.

There’s already too much hate around and too much insincerity and too much opaqueness that critical elements of a healthy working society — elements like trust and hope, for example — are becoming a rarity.
And that’s why the world is turning ugly.

We need to find ways to rekindle elements like these among each and every one of us. It won’t be easy because our “circles of trust” (thank you for this concept, Francis Fukuyama) are so small and getting even smaller. But we cannot not try. And, as I said, we need everyday heroes — you and me, to be blunt, to rise to the occasion. Doing what is expected of us every day, and doing just a little bit more. Caring for people behind our circles and beyond our kin. Starting with trust, and being firm in dealing with anyone and everyone who create reasons for fostering distrust. Even if it means not turning a blind eye to what a relative or a close friend is doing; even if it means risking relationships because you have to call out someone doing something that is contrary to “heroic” acts.

Do we have the courage to do that? Because that’s what it will take to be a modern day hero.

Think about it. You and I must get into the act and stop our slide on this slippery slope to what could very well be societal disintegration, but it will take you and I doing little heroic acts that need not cost our lives — but may cost us relationships we otherwise hold dear but which we must now sacrifice for a bigger purpose.

And we can start today with an honest to goodness look in the mirror.

More than ever now is a time for heroes. Are you game?

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