I was talking to a co-worker the other day about heroes. She’s an older lady, and she was talking about how nowadays, young people don’t have any real heroes. They’re ball players, singers, actors etc. “They haven’t accomplished anything. They’re famous just because they’re famous.”
So that got me to thinking…who’s my hero? And of course it has to be Roberta Bondar, the first Canadian woman in space.
Who’s your hero? Why?
Astronauts are true heroes. They go where no man has gone before, there’s no room for error…the likelihood of a rescue is very small. They learn things that will some day benefit all of us.
Martin Luther King is a hero. He accomplished so much for race relations in this country during one of the most unstable times in our history.
Doctors who find cures or who invent something that will help people function again.
Mel Brooks. He sees the lighter side in a most hilarious way.
Mine would have to be:
The Duke of Wellington - One of the greatest military minds my fair nation ever produced
and…
Pompey the Great. Possibly the greatest General Rome ever produced and who has effectively been written out of history for daring to stand up to Caesar.
My heros are Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly and Lauren Bacall. But I am an actor so they would be the ones that are “They’re famous just because they’re famous.”
Jan Morris. I told her that once that she was my hero and role model, and she was appalled. So since then, we’ve just been friends.
What a great life she’s had! Lives in an old Welsh cottage with her longtime companion; has written scores of books and traveled all over the world; has aged gracefully and does what she loves for a living.
Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell Puller
http://www.gnt.net/~jrube/chestpul.htm
Goodnight Chesty, where ever you are.
Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager (USAF, Ret.)
Col. Ralph Parr (USAF, Ret.)
Col. JD Collinsworth (USAF, Ret.)
Col. Clarence E “Bud” Anderson (USAF, Ret.)
Rear Adm. Alan B. Shepherd (USN, Ret.)
Col. John Glenn (USMC, Ret.)
Sir William Wallace
Robert I (The Bruce), King of Scots
Angus Og MacDonald (aka Kolkitto)
Rob Roy MacGregor
Adm. Yamamoto Isoroku (IJN)
Sitting Bull
Black Kettle
Geronimo
and, most importantly…
My Dad.
Mr. Rogers has been my hero for a long time (this isn’t me jumping on the bandwagon after he’s died). There was a person who made kids lives better every day by being gentle, sweet, but realistically addressing the concerns of kids. He was positive without being cloying, and honest.
Walt Whitman is also a hero of mine. During the chaos and despair of the Civil War and the Reconstruction, he wrote about love for ALL Americans–men, women, black, white, Indian, old, young, everyone, and most especially, love of self.
And going along with Kilt-wearin’ Man, I’ll also have to say my dad. Without a college education, he managed to work his ass off his whole life to pay for my Ivy League education. He’s always there for me and he’s just a first-rate human being in every way.
One of mine is George Wallace. Yes, he was a fire-spitting segregationist. My point is that he WAS. I think it took a bullet to get him to put in some real thought, but he was man enough to turn around and go the other direction, even after all the energy he’d put in for his former beliefs.
My heroes are William Mulholland, Henry Hannon, Charles Boston, Anthony Schleyer, and countless others who have given their time and talents as volunteer firefighters in service to their community. Each man taught me something of tremendous value.
Although I never knew him, Robert Roberts is a hero in that his son recruited others to join the Fire Company after his line of duty passing.
My heroes are the Firefighters whose names are placed on a plaque of bronze in Emmittsburg every year. My heroes are those law enforcement professionals whose names I do not know that lost their lives in the line of duty while trying to keep the streets safe for you and me.
My heroes are those women and men half a world away who are serving their Country, and are doing so with diligence and spirit.
Salute all
My hero is my husband’s aunt, who raised her two sons on an elementary school teacher’s salary, then started them both off in medical school. Then, she retired from teaching at age 40, went back to school and became an attorney. In the meantime, she also supported her mother, who only died two years ago. Now at 74, she continues to work full-time as an attorney in her own practice, serving women and children - and fully 50% of what she does is pro bono. She serves on the park district board and the city planning commission, volunteers at the library, and spends two weeks every year exploring the world (so far, Japan, Ireland, England, France, Scotland and Australia.) Plus she can cook like nobody’s business.
When I was in middle school I looked up to Oprah Winfrey.
I still do, but realize now I only see her public persona.
I also look up to Ted Koppel, because he seems so consistently sharp and level-headed, although I’m sure he has a lot of help to appear that way.
…and my mom.
I’ve always admired authors, but some of them are rather cold in person. I guess they speak through their craft.
**Hubert Humphrey[b/] is my political hero, and I think his losing in 1968 was one of the biggest political disasters for the country (for one thing: no Watergate).
I also admire Harry Truman, who was everything a politician these days never dares to be.
Albert Einstein – not only a great scientist, but a great human being.
Martin Luther King
Funny, Humphrey is about as low as you can get, in my book, Chuck. I think his candidacy in 1968 was foolish, ego-driven, graceless…you name it. I admire Humphrey for some things but running in 1968 wipes all of them out.
On that same subject, I do admire Bobby Kennedy. Also Frank Zappa, Abraham Lincoln, Lord Byron, Jackie Robinson Walt Whitman, Fred Rogers, Sandy Koufax, and my dad inordinately.
WOW! What an excellent hero. Put me in her fan club as well.
Raoul Wallenberg.
Galileo Galilei
Charles Darwin
Albert Einstein
Robert Ingersoll
Thomas Paine
Sun Yut-Sin
Mao Tse-tung
Karl Marx
Michelangelo
Tori Amos
Wayne Gretzky
David Foster Wallace
Albert Einstein
**Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony ** - who paved the way for women having the right to vote.
Elie Wiesel
Oprah Winfrey
Anyone who stands up for themselves, for what they beleive in, regardless of whether or not they will lose popularity points.
My Mom and My Aunt. Two fundamentally different people who have influenced me greatly, in different way.