Endurance – True Heroes #5

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Endurance

Why would endurance be associated with heroism?  Maybe it can’t be understood unless we think about the opposite.  Maybe it’s because giving up is so well understood as being the antithesis of heroism.

That would explain why we call people sports heroes.  The push beyond what we think we could do. They endure longer and that endurance leads to the final run, the last leap, the improbable score.

The Rest of Us

So, how does that translate for us, the non-sports hero?  

I see it in my wife, when she was a single mom. She went back to college, in spite of the hardship and got her degree.  She had to make a decision to struggle and persevere instead of saying it’s going to be too hard and giving up.  She endured and made a great life for her daughter as a result. She is a hero to me.

I see it in one of the runners I coach. She is the slowest of all our runners. It can be frustrating for her coach and for her. But she has chosen to keep at it no matter what. And as a result she is going to cross the finish line in a half marathon in less than a month. She is a hero to me.

I see it in my friend Lindsay who has Lupus. She has excruciating episodes where her body rebels against her in dumbfounding ways, blowing her face up into a balloon, making her unable to walk, or just putting her into terrible pain.  But in the midst of all that she is planning her wedding and continuing to work every day.  She is also continuing to show off on Facebook and elsewhere the most original and unique sense of humor that is both self-deprecating and uplifting, insightful and poignant.  She is a hero to me.

Encourage Enduring

And that is what we all hope for other people, right? That they will find the will or ability to endure and accomplish their goals. Encouraging people to be heroes is a good thing.


Drawing and commentary © 2015 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com

Quote by George Kennan, 1904-2005, American diplomat


 

 

Running Away – True Heroes #4

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Run Away Child

Did you ever run away from home as a child? It took some planning and some guts, didn’t it.  You probably got no further than half way down the block or more than a few hundred yards behind you home in the woods before you turned around or were found by one of your parents.  But for most of us we actually never did get to the point of actually running away. We thought about it, we maybe even planned it, but we didn’t do it. Why not? Because we were afraid. We were afraid of danger and the unknown, afraid of starving or getting lost, afraid of not having any help and afraid of hurting those we left behind, especially if we had brothers or sisters younger than we were.

Run Away Adult

I remember my ex-wife at one point in our final throes of divorce saying there had been many times during our marriage she just wanted to run away.  Just have it all be gone, have me gone. I have heard many other women since then say the same thing, and I have seen even more people say it on Facebook or Twitter.  They say it with humor, but underneath they are serious in their desire to escape.

Why don’t they run away?  In many ways the reasons are the same as for kids. They are afraid of danger, the unknown, starvation, getting lost, not having support or help, and abandoning those left behind.  Hopefully for an adult the last item on the list is much more important.  It is no longer about just what the person running away wants, it’s about the responsibility one has to those still remaining. The children who don’t deserve to be abandoned, the home, the neighbors, the family, the friends, the work, whatever it is.  There is a feeling of obligation – I have to face my worries, my fears, my burdens and work through them the best I can.  

In the end, that is what makes a soldier a true military hero, and it is what makes a parent an everyday hero.


Drawing and commentary © 2015 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com

Quote is an English Proverb


Here is the Periscope video that shows the creation of the drawing.

A Boy as Hero – True Heroes #3

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Big Hero

When I was 13 I had just moved to a new town all the way across the country. My first day of Junior High I saw her. The most beautiful girl in school. She was a vision, a beauty, a mystery. I had a crush on her from 7th to 9th grade. I had recurring dream during that time of us being in a bus crash and me being the hero that saved her and helped her afterwards.  I thought that is what it would have taken to get her to admire me, to look up to me, to fall in love with me. That is what being a hero meant to me.  

Small Hero

Fast forward many decades.  Facebook is reconnecting everyone from back in the day. And who should eventually be on it but her.  I friend her, she friends me, but she isn’t on very often and we don’t actually talk or connect until one day I posted something about me participating in a control study for the aviation industry.  I had to stay for 20 hours in a hyperbaric chamber as part of a test. 

She saw my post and wrote to me asking me if I could connect her with the director of the organization I did the study with because she was writing an article on that topic. And so I made the introduction and she got her interview.  She was very appreciative.

Practice Heroism

That is what being a hero means to me now. And that means I have moved from the fantasy, extraordinary effort definition of heroism to the real life, helping people definition. That doesn’t mean the first definition doesn’t exist, it does and is extraordinary. But most of daily life is not in that realm. If we wait for the extraordinary event for us to exhibit effort on behalf of another then we have no heroic muscle memory. Heroism is made up of thousands of small acts of kindness and love.  Those are the practice runs that allow you to complete the race when it arrives.


 

Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman | Napkindad.com

Quote by Edward Howe


 

Surpassing Surpassing – True Heroes #2

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The Star

If you watch a baseball game, like I did last night as the Kansas City Royals won the World Series over the New York Mets, there is usually a ‘hero’ that stands out. He may score the winning run or perhaps he strikes out the side.  However, without exception, if you hear an interview with that person after the game is won, he will say it was a team effort.  He may say, “Yes, I had my good stuff on the pitching mound today.” But it’s also likely they will say a lot more along the lines of, “I was just trying to contribute to the team.”

The Servant

That got me thinking, what is it they are really wanting to do?  They are wanting to serve their team. Yes, they probably like the glory of exalted newspaper accounts and TV reporting.  But it’s their teammates who are actually counting on them and it’s into that locker room full of teammates that he must go after the game.  If a player is too consumed with surpassing personal records and getting personal glory instead of serving the greater good, they will not be liked or respected in that locker room.

Walks of Life

Combat – It’s often said that the soldiers immediate mindset is to serve and protect his or her fellow soldiers, not to fight for glory or some abstract cause.  

Family – Mothers and fathers are not vying for an actual ‘Parent of the Year’ trophy. They simply serving their children as best they can.

Business – A superior, if he or she is good, is suppose to be serving you, not the other way around.

Community – Politicians and activists who are best at what they do are the ones who are working to serve the community.

Examples

What personal examples do you have of those who work to serve instead of surpass?


Drawing and commentary © 2015 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com

Quote by Arthur Ashe, 1943-1993, American athlete


 

 

The Designated Hero – True Heroes #1

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Designated

Some people are designated heroes just as one of a group of friends is deemed the designated driver at a party.  The designated hero is labeled such and is expected to fulfill that role.  It might be an Astronaut, the soldier, a politician, the athlete, a family member. It might be the survivor.  Whoever he or she is, they are looked up to. The media tells stories about them. Books are written about them.  Their deeds are exalted.  They become icons and are enshrined.  We all know about them.

Not Designated

But for every designated hero that is looked up to, there is somebody else looking at those looking at the person looking at the hero.  The teacher who is pointing to the famous artist is himself being pointed at by her student.  The beginning pilot who is pointing to the astronaut is herself being pointed at by a person with a model airplane in his hands.  The young woman off in the wilds of Canada who is pointing at the world renowned inspirational speaker is herself being pointed at by the many who listen to her modest broadcasts.  The small business owner pointing to the CEO of the major corporation is himself being pointed at by his inspired daughter.

You

Now, it could be that someone who is actually a world renowned hero is reading this. But the overwhelming probability is that you are not world renowned.  You probably don’t see yourself as a hero.  But you probably are. If you are a parent, you probably are.  If you are a business owner, you probably are. If you are pursuing an athletic achievement at any level, you probably are.  If you are a policeman, fireman, soldier, you definitely are.

The Point

So, what’s the point? It’s not to give you permission to brag about something. It’s to give you permission to know that you are seen.  You see heroes and look up to them, and that is good.  And you are seen as well and it’s important to keep that in mind as you reach for your own goals in life.

Periscope

Here is the periscope video of me creating the drawing while viewers try to guess the quote.  You can find me on Periscope as @thenapkindad.


Drawing and commentary © 2015 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com

Quote by Helen Hayes, 1900-1993, American actress