What Makes A Hero?
When I was thirteen years old, my Dad came home and told us that he had just received orders to go to Vietnam. Even as a boy, I knew that this was very bad news. I knew other kids who had fathers in “Nam”, and I understood what a scary, difficult struggle it was for them and their families.
Later in the evening, Dad asked me to sit down with him at the kitchen table as he polished his brass and spit-shined his boots. He explained to me that as a Command Sergeant Major with over 31 years of active duty (eligible for retirement) he had a choice to make. He could either retire from the Army and pursue a second career or go to Vietnam and become the Command Sergeant Major for the Americal Division. The first choice was safe and sane (and would have made my mom really happy). The second choice was his sworn duty – to defend the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic. In his mind, it was no choice at all.
Dad explained that a soldier hates war more than anyone because he or she truly understands the horrific things that happen there. The entire experience is very real and uniquely personal. Yet, knowing this only propels the soldier forward to stand and fight side by side with his comrades. It is a life filled with relationships held together by honor, duty, and interdependence. It is a calling populated with professional people who willingly sacrifice financial reward and individual recognition for the opportunity to defend their country and fellow citizens. It is a high calling indeed.
As the sun was reflecting low through the backyard window, I noticed that Dad had just screwed the top back on to the Brasso can and that all of his uniform brass was gleaming in the reflected light. I realized for the first time that unlike my friends, my Dad had never once ordered me to shine his brass or his boots. So I asked him about it. I said, “Dad, how come you have never made me shine your things for you?” With a surprised look and a curious grin, he said, “Son, someday you will have your own brass and boots to shine. This is my brass. These are my boots. They are my responsibility – not yours.”
It was in that moment that I understood why heroes are not like the rest of us. Heroes do not see their duty as heroic or as something to be delegated, only as their duty. The very notion of having someone else take their place (in the fight or shining their brass) is totally outside of their way of thinking. For them it is simple, almost reflexive. To do my duty, to honor my fellow soldiers, to serve my country – it’s not just what I signed up for – it is who I am!
Take some time this week to look around. Chances are, you have heroes in your life that you have not spent much time with lately. Make the time, honor them and you may learn some valuable things about yourself in the process.
