Heroes

Heroes have been on my mind a lot lately - well,

heroes are on my mind all the time actually. I think it's because in the throes of life, I love the feeling of just thinking about the fact that awesome people exist. Yay awesome people! To me, heroes are people who either face adversity well or help others face adversity well. So with me thinking about these people all the time so obsessively, I guess I might as well create a digital shrine for them just to round-out the overall creepiness...



Brian Piccolo

I love this man so much, I wrote my elementary school report about him. Let's just say my other

classmates were like, "Ummmmm....wut."I blame my parents (who blessed me with THE BEST taste in all things pop culture - oooo heroes are supposed to be humble... oops :)). My dad played college ball, and my mom loves football because football. So I knew all about Brian Piccolo from a young age. An amazing talent (Chicago Bears hello?!) breaking racial barriers alongside his best friend and greatest competition, all while battling the giant that is cancer. I still cheer for Wake Forest on the occasion that I remember it exists. A true hero. Brian's song lives on.

"I love Brian Piccolo. And tonight, when you hit your knees, please ask God to love him."

Jo March

Ok so she's not real, but she should be. And every little girl should have a literary heroine, yes? Jo March is everything I aspire to be. (Stand up to the lions of injustice, we will!) And I shall name my first daughter after her, non-negotiable. #happyhusband

"You should have been a lawyer, Miss March."
"I should have been a great many things, Mr. Mayer."

Love her.













Tim Howard
Ohhhhhh you didn't see that one coming. There are no words for how much I love Tim Howard (and it's not just because of his clean-shaven dome. It's really not). I rehash
this like every single day, so here's the quick version: Summer 2010 (the summer of the World Cup) was pretty rough for me. Come to find out Tim Howard hasn't always had the easiest time either. His success between the pipes was and is an inspiration to me. Combined with the emotion associated with the World Cup in general, it was an amazing summer. And I got to meet my hero this past summer in Washington, D.C. Now that's the stuff of dreams. I could write pages, HUNDREDS, but I won't. Because.... because..... because there are no words.

Anyone (Man and Dog) Who's Ever Raced in the Iditarod
I love people who challenge themselves. I also love people who invest in things. And I also happen to love the Iditarod. "The Last Great Race" is the epitome of challenging oneself, of caring about and investing in something when almost no one else does. 'Iron Will' was an appropriate movie title for a dogsledding film. These people, and dogs, have heart. And don't we need a little more of that in life?





Elizabeth Smart
I had heroes before Elizabeth Smart - Brian Piccolo for example - but I think the first time I consciously realized, "Wow. This person is one of my heroes," was during the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping. I was way more interested in the details of the case than someone of my age should have been, but I remember exactly where I was when I found out she had been rescued: the parking lot of a Dairy Queen picking up an ice cream cake for my birthday. My mom and I heard the news via the radio from someone else's car that had the window rolled down. I think I connected so much with the story because Elizabeth was such a normal girl just like myself. She was even Mormon! I was inspired by Elizabeth simply because she went through what she went through. That she has since then become such a rock, such a resilient fighter, is just the icing on the cake for me.

The Men and Women of the U.S. Armed Forces

If there were no words before, there are certainly none now. Instead, here's a song I've recently discovered that is just the tip of the iceberg as far as articulating at least in some small way what I feel towards and owe to those who fight for our freedoms. And it happens to use the theme from 'Dances With Wolves,' another story of heroism, as well.








Those Who Go Through Hell, and Just Keep Going

Winston Churchill's words, not mine. "If you're going through hell, keep going." There are millions of people in the world going through a personal hell. Sex trafficking, marital problems, honor killings, genocide, starvation, unemployment, mental illness, death... The list goes on forever. It seems odd to lump all of these together - arguably some are much more serious than others. But in fact, I believe that everyone will experience their own personal Gethsemane in this life in the sense that, even if from the outside it doesn't seem so bad, for that person, it will bring them to their knees. So in that sense, I guess everyone is my hero. You are all my heroes!!!! Truly, I learn of a new hardship, as if that is even an adequate word, that I didn't even know existed and that other people face, every single day. And in those moments I'm reminded that if they can make it, I certainly can.


Participants in Life
Finally, I am inspired by the people who take notice in life, by the people who have passions and act on those passions. It may be something small, it may be something huge. It doesn't matter. These people participate in life. They care. I don't know about what, but about SOMETHING! Good for them. Life's too long to not invest in something, and it's too short to not make the most of. Participate in life!








So there they are. My heroes. The angels among us. I love 'em. I really do.