Ask any child, and they’ll happily reveal who their hero is. Not surprising are the superpowers possessed and capes worn by childhood heroes. To a child, a hero is someone almost other-worldly. The notion that someone worth looking up to can be a regular person is a foreign concept to children. When a sliver of reality sinks in, their sights typically are redirected onto people of fame and influence. Again, the average Joe rarely makes the list, if ever.
In reality, heroes aren’t found in comic books or on movie screens. Heroes are the people we pass every day in schools, at work, or in our communities. They are people we look up to and aspire to be more like. Heroes stand out because they are brave. They are daring enough to pursue their convictions and live authentically. Popularity is not the driving force of a hero. Doing the right thing is. Being a stand-up human worth looking up to is what it means to be a hero.
In an interview years ago, Matthew McConaughey was asked, “Who’s your hero?”
His answer? “Me in ten years.” His point is that he keeps trying to be a better version of himself. .http://(https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7901999-when-i-was-15-years-old-i-had-a-very)
A hero isn’t someone you become. It’s someone you commit to becoming. There’s never an end to the improvements we can apply to ourselves. Whether we measure ourselves against the people we look up to or just set out to do our best as individuals, we have the potential to become a hero to someone. Neither having a hero nor being one is a necessity, but both ideologies make us strive for personal betterment. Live a life worth looking up to.
