Heroes... Standing By

A child may call his father or mother "hero," but we will not call them "heroes." We are more likely to call them "good parents." Nature equips women to be good mothers, and men to be good fathers. Not all men and women live up to that ideal, but that does not mean that those who do are thus extraordinary, and thereby, heroic. 

Likewise, policemen are not heroes because they intercede to protect a public citizen from harm. It is his job. That is what he is paid to do. Same thing for teachers. They are not by definition heroic. They are paid to teach. If you do not pay them, most of them, probably, will not teach; neither will officers police, nor firemen fight fires. That does not mean they will not risk their lives to save your child from a burning building. I suppose a number of men and women would do that. And, if they do, they will be heroic, mainly because it is a split-second decision, and no external force - like payment for services - compel them to act. They are driven only by a sense of humanity. There is heroism. It is far less common than we want to believe. Yet, it exists as potential energy within each of us. 

There is a teacher in us, and a fireman, and a policeman, and a soldier. That person may never be called upon, or he/she may rise up out of us in the next instant. Such is the hero in us all. It has nothing to do with a uniform. It has everything to do with our sense of humanity when humanity needs us most.