In mythology and legend, a man, often of divine ancestry, who is endowed with great courage and strength, celebrated for his bold exploits, and favored by the gods.
A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life: soldiers and nurses who were heroes in an unpopular war.
A person noted for special achievement in a particular field: the heroes of medicine.
The principal male character in a novel, poem, or dramatic presentation.
I can tell you, my hero is someone that most people would laugh about, but the truth is he really changed my outlook on life.
It was this waiter from Chilis in redmond(or was that issaquah?), anyways, those are cities by Sammamish. In any case, though his job would seem boring, he would still keep his spirits up. We had some guests visiting from Israel, and in Israel it isn’t rare to have a lack for manners with people you don’t know, like waiters for example. So our guests were being loud and somewhat annoying, occasionally fussing over how long the food is taking to the waiter and such. But our waiter just kept on smiling and he would always reply in a funny/sarcastic way while still staying somewhat polite. Like, for example, one of our guests asked, “When will the food arrive?”, and he replied “The food will be here shortly”. Then the guest said “Two minutes?”, and he replied in a subtly sarcastic voice, “You know, I think it’s more like 1.”
It’s one of those things which you would have to be there to see. But this experience seriously changed my life. I guess it would sort of go a long with the saying “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”.
Nice thread, Bruce. A trail we frequently ride on in Seattle is the Burke-Gilman trail, a rails to trails conversion with asphalt top. It is heavily populated with strollers, cyclists, walkers, runners, what have you in nice weather. I was riding my bike on the trail and came across a man with a leaf spring transtibial prosthetic leg AND a snap joint transfemoral prosthetic limb. He was jogging. I was astounded.
My grandpa is on my list.
Due to his mom suffering from Rubella while pregnant with him, the left side of his body was slightly under-developed.
This only came to light when he was in his 70’s and battling with chest-infections.
Subsequent X-Rays brought this to light.
It should’ve been obvious tho.
His left arm only developed as far as the elbow, his left arm nothing more than a stump, as if amputated in the elbow.
When he went to school his mother bought him slip-on boots.
He asked why he didn’t have lace-ups, like the other kids.
His mom said he could have them, as long as he would tie them himself.
He did.
He played semi-pro football (center-forward, sorry, that be ‘soccer’ then), only stopping when his wife asked him to.
He had a habit of saying to department store clerks ‘Give it to me, I’m in a hurry’ while they were wrapping gifts he purchased.
He cared for my bed-ridden grandmother for the best part of 25 years.
I didn’t realise he was ‘disabled’ until well into my teens.
He died in a hospital bed with my father (an only child) sitting next to him, the monitors gently slowing their insistent beeping until he left.
Wow, that is very impressive. There is a kid at my highschool who plays basketball with a prosthetic leg. I don’t know him personally, but he was written up in the local paper recently and it was a great article. It is pretty amazing to watch him play.
I’m not particularly fond of when people post lyrics to songs, but I’m tempted to do so myself. I’ll compromise and post some snippets from the Rush song “Nobody’s Hero”, which defines what is and what is not a hero. (you can hear it on YouTube).
[I]"Hero… is the voice of reason against the howling mob
Hero…is the pride of purpose in the unrewarding job
Hero…not the champion player who plays the perfect game
Hero… saves a drowning child
Cures a wasting disease
Hero… lands a crippled airplane
Solves great mysteries
Hero… not the handsome actor
Who plays a hero’s role"[/I]