Hereos

From tragedy rise heroes.  The spot light highlights the ordinary ones.  Their super powers shine and provide a beacon when so many are convinced that light is gone. But do they really rise in the moment of crisis or are they a hero every day and society has forgotten what a hero looks like?

I'm sure that I changed my mind several times while I was growing up about what I wanted to be when I was grown.  Being a teacher was something that I always came back to. It's no wonder that I was drawn to teaching.  I was blessed with some amazing teachers/coaches in my educational journey that inspired me and made me want to inspire others. These amazing teachers started with my very first teachers at Dodds Grade School, Ms. Gingrich and Mrs. Boyer.  When I moved to a different school it continued at Lincoln School with Mr. Yearwood, Mr. Rogers, and Coach Strothmann.  Those tough growing years of Junior High and High School it was Coach Siefert, Mr. Bryant, Coach Griffin and Mr. Wells that taught me, listened to me, encouraged me, and set me straight when I needed it.  There were plenty of other teachers that provided me with book knowledge but these teachers I listed went beyond just providing an education crafted from a book.  They loved what they taught or they sold it like they did.  They cared about their students/players.  From some of them I found a love for writing, reading and history. Some made me see that science could be fun and wasn't going to be the death of me from boredom.  The coaches taught me how to recognize my weaknesses and motivated me to put in hard work to improve on those weaknesses. They coached myself and teammates in a way that we experienced success. And when victory was not ours they taught us how to gracefully deal with loss.

How does this all tie into heroes?  Those people I named were among my heroes growing up.  They were people that I looked up to.  They didn't wear capes and have super powers. They didn't get chased by paparazzi every day and have their faces plastered all over magazines because they got trashed and acted stupid. They were ordinary people that on a day to day basis made sacrifices in order to make the lives of their students better. That may sound dramatic to you but they made sacrifices. They listened to problems when it should have been their lunch hour and time away from the students. They bought materials to enhance the classes and I'm sure they never received reimbursement or it was little compared to what was spent.   I know at least two of those teachers drove nearly an hour or more to get to work.  I know those two for sure did not end their day when the last bell rang.  They were involved in after school activities that took them away from their families even more than just the drive time did.  All my basketball games were at night so even for the coaches that lived in town it was the same.  They were away from their families and giving time to other people's children.

I have no doubt in my mind that had danger ever entered the schools I attended like it enters schools now, these people would have protected myself and classmates to the best of their ability.  They would have been that teacher that drew a curtain over her classroom door window, took the kindergarten students into the corner of the classroom and began reading them book.  A book which she did not stop reading until the police came into her classroom to clear it.  That woman is a hero.  But she didn't become a hero on the day of the shooting.  I am sure she was already a hero to somebody.

I think and should I dare to say even, suggest that we do two things. First while we are hugging the little ones in our lives a little bit tighter in the aftermath of this tragedy we talk to them about heroes. We provide them with a definition of what a hero is and reference for what a role model should be. We ask them who their heroes are and why.  If you find it is someone merely because their face is plastered all over every media source and because they are "famous" ponder this. The shooters for every single one of these massacres were also plastered all over the television and newspapers for several days/weeks.  If I close my eyes I can still see the face of the boy from Heath High School and that was 15 years ago. Having just completed a Google News Search to test what I am saying here I find that as recent as 10 hours ago there is an article that has this boy's picture in it.  15 years later he is still the face of that tragedy.  He is still the infamous one.  True infamous means known for bad quality or deed.  But known is the key word in that sentence.   Do we really want media sources being our children's moral compass for who they should look up to?

The second thing I hope you do, if you don't already, is recognize those people that watch out for and take care of your children on a daily basis with a simple thank you.  They are playing a huge role in the life of your child and probably don't get recognized for it enough.  By giving them that little thank you may be giving them just the boost they need to continue to go above and beyond as some of my teachers did for me and my fellow classmates in the past and as those teachers did yesterday for their students.