Know Jack #524 Ordinary Heroes

I grew up reading comic books and admiring superheroes. I exchanged comics for history books. My heroes still wore uniforms, but there remained something uniquely extraordinary about them. Any lingering fantasy that I could be like them disappeared when a fellow in a Smokey Bear hat stepped into the bus I was riding. As soon as he opened his mouth, I began to wonder “What the hell have I gotten myself into?”

Some of the looks I got wearing that uniform only served to reinforce that idea. It was the men and women wearing it with me who forever changed my concept of heroism. If you can leap tall buildings in a single bound, there is nothing heroic about doing so. If you can’t but are willing to give it your best shot because it needs doing, you are a hero. You may be left licking your wounds and wondering what you got yourself into but you’re a true hero.

Heroism isn’t a superpower. It is a condition of the heart that manifests itself in selfless service simply because it’s the right thing to do. I think most heroes look around wishing there was someone else who could do the job. When there’s not, heroes step up.

Our Post is looking for heroes and heroines. You don’t need a superpower. You don’t necessarily need a particular set of skills. You only need a willingness to help, just ask any of our committee chairpersons. I know the Building and Membership committees need you. They will help you help others. More than that, you will be helping yourself in ways you may not imagine.

I believe in, and write about, ordinary heroes. I didn’t enlist in the military out of some altruistic notion about patriotic duty, defense of freedom, or love of country. I did it for me. In service, I found all of that and more. Find more in yourself than you thought possible. I’m asking everyone to, please, take up the cause of our Post to help veterans. Be someone’s ordinary hero, the ability is already in you.

This blog post is also my September article for our American Legion Post 237 Newsletter.