As many of you know I had a sad start to my week by learning a friend of mine from high school had passed away from ALS. She had mentioned to me, I was a hero to her. Those words floored me because I never think of myself that way, ever.
I post my confusion on Facebook. I was additionally humbled by my friends and family's remarks. Just a few,
Julie Fouts-Smith For some reason you touch her as well as others. Your abilty to connect with people is amazing. I know you touched my life.
Kathleen Messmer Sorry for your loss, Mark! Your words are so true and shouldn't be taken lightly...how many of us have wished we had just one more time with someone we love..
Gail Plocharczyk your more of the michellin man;) ♥ sorry to hear this but you and Scott are amazing and words cant even say how i feel about you both ♥
Lisa Samuiloff Chandler Stephanie and I talked about you last night. Even my 16 year old daughter thinks you are a remarkable person. Your attitude about life amazes me. I'm sorry about this loss for you but believe there is a reason for everything. I believe you were put back in her life for positive reasons...
Very kind words. I was beginning to feel better. I wouldn't call myself a hero yet, but I do feel better.
Then I received an email from another friend that knew my friend that had passed away. My friend, Jerny, is a physical person. By that, I mean, she is a trainer, a runner, an athlete and also a parent. The coolest thing that Jerny does, in my opinion, she blogs! Ok, I'm a nerd and I like bloggers. Jerny wrote a blog last year about Champions. Here is a link to the blog article. Jerny nails it with this post. To summarize her article, a champion can be anyone from anywhere and definitely not in sports. Then I started to think about heroes vs. champions.
Our society wants and demands champions. We love and adore heroes. Heroes are brave and strong. Champions are fearless and focused.
Then I thought, can a hero be a champion or can a champion be a hero?
I guess that would all depend on how you define both of those two things. Most would associate champions with sports. Every league must have a champion at the end of each season. However, many people call sports stars heroes. Living in Chicago we have had our fair share of champions, Chicago Cubs not withstanding. Michael Jordan and Walter Payton were often called heroes. This can get confusing.
Sports championships are very exciting, I'll admit. But, after all the parades are over I find little to be inspired about. I was called a hero and the only sports I play are on the computer. So there must still be more.
I'm in the group of unsung heroes I guess. These are the everyday people who get up early, raise families, go to work, help the community, run households, shop with coupons, pick up random trash on the street, let a merging car into their lane.
A hero/champion is the person who does more when they have nothing left to give. They'll help others before they'll help themselves. To me the ultimate hero would have to be Jesus. He gave is life so we could enter heaven. All He asked was for people to love each other as He loved us. So simple, yet so hard for many.
My week started off sad, but I was able to figure out what it all meant. My friends and family lifted my spirits. Thank you all for a great week.
No comments:
Post a Comment