My Two Cents: ?
A hero has never been someone who is defined solely by the sum of their personal accomplishments; a true hero is someone who inspires in other people, the courage to rise to the level of their own greatness.
Everybody needs a hero sometimes and when challenged greatly, we will take our heroes wherever we can get them -- in movies from our childhood, in the pages of a good book and more often than not on the playing fields of our favorite games.
Quite often, as a result of their accomplishments, we are willing to recognize a gifted athlete as hero, but every once in a while, a gifted athlete will come along that doesn't inspire us to think of him that way.
This week I watched, with the hopes of being inspired, the Barry Bonds interview on MSNBC. Barry Bonds is major league baseball's all time leading home run hitter and yet, arguably one of the greatest athletes to ever play the game; he is arguably a hero in spite of all of his accomplishments. Because -
What makes someone a hero is their ability to inspire in other people the courage to rise to the level of their own greatness.
In the absence of that quality, you can hit as many home runs as you want and you'll only ever be the guy that people keep bringing up -
in debate.
Auguste Roc
auguste@danaroc.com
