This week: Who or What is a Hero? Edited by: Kit  
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Who, if anyone, is your hero? What have they done to earn your admiration?
Heroes come in many forms. Some of them may be unexpected...
This week's Action/Adventure Newsletter, then, is all about heroic people and heroic deeds.
Kit |
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Have you ever met a real-life hero? Are you one? I am not a hero, but I do know a few people who have performed some very heroic deeds.
Indeed, my ancestors were incredibly brave. My great-grandparents on my grandfather’s side were part of the underground resistance after the Nazis invaded the Netherlands. They helped many Jewish people escape the country, before they were betrayed and placed in a concentration camp. My grandfather was but little at the time, yet he had vivid memories of that horrible place. Not everyone in the family made it back out.
My great-grandparents on my grandmother’s side sheltered a wounded American soldier from the Nazis, at great personal risk. I am proud of them all. I cannot begin to imagine how frightening those times must have been. Doing the right thing could lead to suffering, or death. It would have been much easier to keep one’s head down and hope for the war to end. Anyone helping others in such times deserves to be called a hero.
I never got to meet my great-grandparents. My uncle sure inherited their courage, though. He once ran into a burning house to rescue a couple of children. He also, on a different occasion, performed CPR when a man collapsed on the street. It is because of him that I know that not everyone admires lifesaving deeds. Both incidents occurred during working hours and my uncle’s employer was distinctly unimpressed – especially when my uncle required hospital treatment due to fire injuries. Sure, it’s not nice when someone requires a few hours off to get treatment, but surely that’s an employee to be proud of? Especially when the company sent their employees for First Aid training every six months!
What is a hero? According to a quick Google, a hero is someone who has done something brave, new, or good. A person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. They are willing to take risks or make sacrifices in order to achieve a noble goal. They take action to help others who are in need, voluntarily and selflessly, even though the task at hand may not be easy. A true hero takes these actions and expects nothing in return.
The word hero feels like a special label, which should not be granted lightly. Yet, today I visited a couple who made me reflect on this. The wife is in her final weeks on this Earth. She was diagnosed with cancer last year, and it’s spread throughout most of her body now. The husband works tirelessly to look after her. She can no longer walk, and he helps her get from place to place, gets her what she needs, helps her get dressed, and basically every care need you can think of. On top of that he looks after the kids, the dog, the household, he cooks and bakes, he has his job and he runs their shared business on his own. You can tell he’s exhausted, but he doesn’t complain. Everything he does he does out of love and, well, it needs to be done. Is that not heroic? There are many unpaid carers out there whose lives revolve around the other person, 24/7, without any let-up, yet they’re frequently looked down upon by society for ‘not having a real job’ and being ‘economically inactive’.
Perhaps it is easier to spot the heroism in a single, headline-catching action rather than a sustained effort – a sacrifice made over months, or years, or decades. There is not much glory to be found in helping someone shower, or holding their hand when they’re in tears due to the endless pain. They will certainly not see themselves as heroic. It’s usually something that life throws at you and besides, they’d never think of not being there for that special person. Even when they can no longer provide the necessary care they’ll still be there day in, day out, at the hospital or care unit because that’s love – it lasts until the very end.
When we write our heroes, especially in the Action/Adventure genre, we tend to go for men and women who place their lives on the line to save others. They either do so willingly, or because they have no other choice. They may be great warriors, or someone thrown into a situation that they have to figure out rapidly because much is at stake. Focusing on the day-to-day lives of those quietly working away in the background wouldn’t make for a thrilling story.
Still, the people who selflessly work away, sacrificing their own hopes and dreams and comfort deserve our praise and admiration. Our thanks, too, because the care they provide matters. It matters to the people they provide care for, and to the wider family, and to the state because unpaid carers save governments huge amounts of money, therefore allowing them to allocate their funds elsewhere. I personally feel that unpaid carers should be provided greater support, including financial support, and they’d still save the state money. It is much-needed mental and physical labour. And the difficult truth is that any of us can end up needing to be cared for one day…
Heroes come in many different forms, then, and I don’t believe that it cheapens the word to recognise this. Today, I give thanks to all the many heroes out there. If that is you, thank you for making a difference.
Kit
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Action/Adventure: March 26, 2025 Issue [#13048]
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