I take Mondays off and usually do things that I enjoy doing. So, yesterday as I was sitting in my chair letting my thoughts wander, going down rabbit trails, this word came into my mind. Heroes! I was intrigued, wondering where it came from as I wasn't thinking about heroic things or anything like that. I decided to follow that thought and started having this conversation with myself, asking myself the question: "Cecil, who are your heroes?"
That made me think. Who are my heroes? I have a few heroes and they fall into different categories. They are not just heroes who are heroic people, just doing great things all the time. For me, only Jesus was that kind of a hero – perfect in every way. But, the heroes that I had here, were heroic in a particular career. For example, Billy Graham and Sam Kamalesan, heroes for me, ones who walk the talk, who live their lives keeping their faith intact, not compromising in any way, making sure that their personal lives were not detrimental to their preaching or the discourses that they had with people.
Then I pushed a little further. Steve Jobs is another hero of mine. I realized that it was because of his enterprise, his entrepreneurship, his creativity, his innovation. I love reading about him. Then Nehru, our first Prime Minister is also another hero. Growing up, I loved reading about him, loved his speeches. I loved the fact that he was our first Prime Minister and was able to mould India at that time into one country, led India through those tumultuous partition days.
That was my little rabbit trail yesterday, but it left a question for me. Why am I thinking so much about heroes? I realized that we don't talk too much about heroes these days. There seems to be a scarcity of heroes. Why? They have such great potential. I thought about my own heroes and how they have allowed me to expand my thinking beyond the sense of possibility, to be able to think differently, think out of the box, think beyond and to be able to do and imagine things that I didn't think were possible. Why is it that we have lost our sense of looking for a hero? I realize that one of the reasons could be that we find that our heroes also have faults and are fallible. That can create cynicism in us – What's the use of having a hero? Look at the way they live another part of their lives. Look how they fell in this particular area.
That might not be the best way to look for heroes in our lives. Let's face it! All of us are fallible, vessels of clay. We all make mistakes. Nobody in this world is perfect. We are all work in progress. By just dismissing someone who is heroic in one area and has a fault in another is akin to throwing the baby out with the bath water. It's so important for us to begin to think without cynicism and to think that heroes are necessary for us. They are good inspirations to have in life.
As Scott LaBarge says, "Cynicism is too often merely an excuse for sparing ourselves the effort." So true! If we are honest with ourselves, we use cynicism at times to just say, "What's the point? Even this person has fallen." And so, we allow ourselves to settle into an average mediocre passage through life. But, that's not really why we have been placed on this earth. We've got to realize that human fallibility is something that is part and parcel of who we are. And we need to be able to get beyond that cynicism.
Do heroes actually play a part in our lives? I think so. I was reading an article by psychologist Scott Allison, writing in Psychology Today. He says, "There are many things that heroes bring into our lives.
1. Elevation: They elevate us emotionally-- taking us to a higher place, to be able to think differently.
2. They heal our psychological ills. They are like a balm that when we think of things we cannot do, we find somebody who has done it, and read about them. It's like a soothing balm that can allay our fears.
3. They help build connections between people. When you talk about your heroes (I know I talk so much about Steve Jobs to people), it increases communication and conversation, and so, connections are made.
4. It encourages us to transform ourselves for the better. Only when we risk being able to change and grow, can we ever reach our full potential. It moves us beyond just being accepting of some of the ordinary things that we do.
5. It calls us to become heroes ourselves and help others as well.
That was the thought I landed on. it's a good idea for those who are listening on the call, or who may read this post, to think and say, "Who are my heroes? Do I have heroes? Ought I to have heroes?" write down the names of a few people who have really done exceptionally well in a particular field, and it could be different fields that you surround yourself with. But, the even deeper thought for us is this: Just as we look around and see heroes of a generation that is going on ahead, we too ought to be thinking about being heroes for a generation that is coming behind us. Or else, they are going to be bereft of inspiring people. They are going to be bereft of looking beyond just the normal and aspiring for greatness. The onus for that rests with us.
There is tremendous need for us to embrace every opportunity that comes our way and capitalize on it. There's a need for us to overcome fear and apathy. There's a need for us to live life to the fullest, not settle at an average level. There's a need for us to break through glass ceilings that are around us. There's a need for us to live outside of our skins, and to be able to leave, for people in the next generation, heroic acts that they are willing to be inspired by and want to follow and emulate.
The Bible, in the book of James, has a verse that says, "Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't…." What the Bible is saying is that sometimes we look at people who we think are great and think that we can't be like that. But the Bible says that he was just like us, fallible as well. If we read his story we will realize that he climbed dizzying heights one day, and the next day just ran for his life.
I want to leave this thought with you, that it is possible sometimes for us to look at our shortcomings and say, "I can't be anything more than this." Yet, God is willing us and saying, "No! There's greater things that I have birthed in you that need to find fulfillment in your life." My prayer for each one of us is that we will allow the greatness that God has placed in us to be fulfilled.
May I pray with you? Almighty God, You know the things that You have placed in our lives, that have potential for greatness. Let those things be birthed on each and every one who reads this post. Let those things be fulfilled in our lives, that we leave footprints in the sands of time that will be an inspiration for generations to come. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
· Scott LaBarge, Heroism: Why Heroes Are Important." https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/more/resources/heroism-why-heroes-are-important/
· Scott T Allison, "Five Surprising Ways that Heroes Improve our Lives." https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/why-we-need-heroes/201404/5-surprising-ways-heroes-improve-our-lives
· Bible References: 1 Kings 17 & 18; James 5:17
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