I'm starting this blog in an effort to play a small part in celebrating the everyday ordinary heroes that help to make life better for everyone by their deeds. Everyone has met one of these people, they are all around us, but it's not common that they are celebrated as much as they should be.
Ordinary - Of no exceptional ability, degree, or quality; average.
Hero - A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life.
I was inspired to start this blog after watching a video talk by Philip Zimbardo on ted.com
Towards the end of his talk, of which the main focus is "how easy it is for nice people to turn bad", Zimbardo pleads for an approach to childhood education which focuses on the idea that all people are "heroes in waiting".
Understanding Heroes
"Banality of Heroism"
Ordinary People do extraordinary moral deeds in certain situations
He argues that too often, the hero role models that children learn about are misleading and ignore the everyday hero.
Traditional Societal Heroes - Gandhi, Nelson, Mandela, Martin Luther King are exceptions, they organize their lives around sacrifice for a specific cause.
Children's fantasy heroes - Superman, Spiderman - are not reality models for children, they have supernatural powers.
Zimbardo wants children to be taught that most heroes are everyday people who emerge as heroes only in particular situations.
He argues that people need to be taught the skills to be a hero, to learn to be the one who acts and goes against the passive actions of the group.
I want to finish this post with the words of Wesley Autry, the New York construction worker who saved a young man from being run over by a subway train:
"I did what anyone would do, and what everyone ought to do."
Zimbardo's call to action is a timely and inspiring one. If we all start to celebrate the ordinary heroes around us then we'll have more and more examples to inspire and heroic action by children and adults alike.
Whenever I come across a story of an ordinary hero, I'll post it here. I'll also stray a little from the strictest definition of ordinary heroes to cover and celebrate the people who put themselves out for other people, even in seemingly unsubstantial ways to make the world a better place.
