Heros

Back on August 7th I wrote a post on what makes me me. In it I wondered if those who know nothing more than the acceptable standards of today would understand who my generation would consider heros.

I can identify them loud and clear. They are the miners and their would be rescuers. The rescuers, in particular. Knowing full well what is happening in Utah today could happen yet still they re-enter the danger zone because their fellow miners have been trapped. And the trapped men know they will be there.

My other half worked for an energy company for a time and visited the mining operations often. The executive in charge of the division was a friend. He was killed in an untimely accident. I remember his memorial service to this day. Everyone from the top brass to the miners themselves turned out. He was loved and respected and mourned. Profoundly. Such is the bond these men and women and their families have with one another. It is truly a brotherhood.

Then too there are the men and women who man the fire crews each and every summer as the west burns. Hub did a stint in that business too, summers, when he was in college. He knew what it was to have someone covering his back. The bond between these men and women who put their lives on the line to save our lives and property is no less than that of the miners.

Not to be forgotten are the men and women in the military. How often have you heard a GI say the politics are beyond him but he fights for the guy standing shoulder to shoulder with him.

Their names are not known to us. When the crisis is over they continue on doing what they do. They do not expect accolades. They don't make millions of dollars in salaries and endorsements, nor do they have asterisks by their names in any record book. They do what they do because their buddy or the family next door or their country is in trouble. They do what they do because it's the right thing to do. Period.

You won't find their pictures on trading cards or names on shirts or whole lines of clothing named after them. No. They don't make movies, nor are they grown ups being over paid for playing games. They are every man and every woman. They are us. And they are my heros.