All the world needs heroes, and you are no exception. Every one of you — you all need heroes so you can begin to know that anything is possible, and anything is possible for you as well. All your heroes were ordinary mortal men and women. Even if they started in life as royalty, they were ordinary mortal men and women. The difference is that they had a vision, went forward and overcame obstacles no matter what. They persisted. Something mattered to them, and nothing stopped them.
Even in what you might call bad heroes, gangsters, for instance, the quality of persistence is the same. Their ideals and premises are different, short-sighted We could say, and yet they have admirable strengths as well. Perhaps anti-heroes are anti-heroes so you can better see who you are and what your own ideals are.
It is a mystery in the world how one brother becomes a mighty peacemaker, and another becomes a mighty war maker.
Royal heritage, wealth, privilege do not make heroes any more than poverty and lack of opportunity prevents heroes from heroism. What is the missing ingredient? What is the factor that turns ordinariness into heroism?
Most heroes are not the ones who win on a mortal battlefield. Certainly, it takes courage to fight a physical battle, and yet such heroes are heroes for a moment or one time, and yet, still, something brought them to the point of physical heroism. It is unknown what. They took an action that had a desired result.
Then there are the heroes of the mind, the doctors, the scientists, those who make great strides for mankind. All the world may have mocked them until later, but knowing a higher Truth, or having a great itch within them that could not be quelled, the scientists persisted, and discovered what they sought. If they had not persisted, who would have taken their place?
And then there are the great heroes of compassion and peace. And there are many of such heroes who are unsung. Maybe they overtly affected only a few lives around them and not multitudes. Their names are not remembered in the world, nor even ever known, and yet they are heroes in every sense of the word except for fame. Of course, it is not fame that makes a hero. Fame is only a little thing that comes later.
A hero such as I speak of comes from his heart and from his vision. He may not even know he is a hero, for heroism seems far away from him. A simple shoemaker may be a great hero if he but knew, if you but knew.
Heroes may come from unexpected places. Someone who was an extreme anti-hero may turn into hero. How does this happen?
Heroes are not made in a minute. Somehow, somewhere along the line, they diverged from the crowd and popular opinion. They often went against the current tide and later emerged as heroes. Their heroism was not predicted. They didn’t know they would become heroic. They may never have noticed their heroism. The heroism was day in and day out and so close to their hearts, they had no idea of it, yet heroes they were nevertheless.
Somewhere along in your life, you have been a hero to someone. To your very young children, you are the hero of their lives. You are the font from which all treasures come. You are the one they look up to and want to be like.
Having heroes is an essential part of Human life. There must be heroes, and you must have them. And if you do not find any heroes to admire, then be a hero to yourself. Of course, you do not become a hero by trying to set out to be a hero but rather by raising your sights and seeing before you that which is yours to do. Even in the little things.