Two weeks ago, CNN, an American Channel, presented a program honoring heroes of America. When we think of heroes, what often come to our minds are the men and women with distinguished courage who fought in battlefields and often gave their lives in the cause of freedom . Before the program actually started, I was thinking of the more than 4000 Americans who had lost their lives in Iraq.
How wrong I was! When the introduction to the award was made, I realized that the event was to honor ‘heroes in peace’, very ordinary people like you and me whose sensitivities to the hardships of humanity in different corners of the world made them worthy of the honor bestowed upon them that evening.
According to the master of ceremonies, when the search for these heroes was announced thousands were nominated and the judges chose ten from them whose accomplishments were most outstanding. He paid tribute to all those whose names were submitted recognizing that all of them were worthy of appreciation.
The ten awardees served in different parts of the world – Africa, Cambodia, Mexico, Ethiopia, and New Orleans in the United States. Most of them were working people who dedicated most of their free time and their own material and financial resources in assisting others in times of disasters, those in extreme need of food and shelter, disabled men and women, promoting literacy and helping fight drug addiction.
One lady who had a high paying position in Washington gave up her job and convinced her boyfriend to join her to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. She organized people as volunteer house builders. She and her boyfriend who was a great organizer, worked together with the men and women cleaning up debris left by the disaster and putting up new homes.
A lady from Cambodia saw how the children in her country of origin were digging for food in areas similar to the Smokey Mountain in Manila. She gathered these children and built a school for them.
A woman who lives near the Mexican border would drive several times a week, to bring food which she collects from friends and other people who had heard of her project. She spent every penny she could spare to be able to assist these fellow Mexicans who are in extreme poverty. She could not bear that she is enjoying a good life in the United States when only a few hours drive south of where she lives, people go hungry.
There was this honoree whose job is making artificial limbs. He saw how many men and women across the Mexican border who cannot afford to buy prosthesis, suffer from lack of mobility. He spent all his spare time and resources to make artificial arms and legs, which he gave to these people for free. He derived great pleasure in seeing these people smile when he fitted them with these artificial limbs. He appreciated more that God has blessed him with health and realized that there are so many things in life that we take for granted.
Another awardees was a man from Ethiopia who had lived in the United States for a while but has not forgotten how hard it was for the people in his village to get books. He started to build a library in his place of origin and has continued filling it with books that he could gather and send them to the place.
A young athlete whose father was a former drug addict was greatly bothered by the number of homeless people in Philadelphia. One day she just walked in one of the shelters and announced, “Let us walk.” A few joined her and enjoyed that first day. She persisted in going and leading them in walking, and the number increased. Through this activity, she was able to put people back on their feet and find jobs. They were able to come out of their self-preoccupation and set new goals in life.
There were other projects undertaken by the awardees that I failed to narrate here. They assisted other people in different ways but they are similar in one way: they utilized whatever God-given talents, skills and training they have acquired as well as whatever resources they possess, by sharing them with people in need. The most important of all that few people are willing to share is time, time for others instead of always for us. In the way of life here in North American, we are sold to the idea that our free time is far entertaining ourselves, for holidays spent in trips abroad, for picnics in summer and skiing trips in winter. We listen to the reports of co-workers who had just returned from fabulous visits to well-known resorts and we sometimes feel embarrassed when we do not have something exciting to report after our vacation days. Visiting shut-ins, or helping out-of-the-cold projects, helping pack food at the Daily Food Bank or delivering Meals-On- Wheels may appear boring to many and may not be the sort of things to talk about during lunch hours.
But is it really important that we keep up with the Joneses on what we think are really worthwhile in our lives? As one of the honorees that evening said, ”Have we asked why God put us in this earth?”
Sometimes we get too focused on our own needs that we fail to look around and see how fortunate we are compared to a great number of people whom we can probably lend a helping hand.
At this time of economic crisis when we are more careful than ever in allocating our financial resources, it is probably the best of times in thinking that there are things we can afford not to have and share more to the needy.
These ten people honored as Heroes of America did not think of themselves as heroes. They came in very simple clothes and they looked as ordinary as anyone of us. They spoke of how what they were doing brings them happiness.
That hero trait is in all of us. It is especially with those thousands of Filipinos abroad who work very hard and religiously send money to their families in the Philippines. It is with those alumni organizations, which help their Alma Maters, those individuals, and groups that raise money whenever there are disasters in our home country or those who send medicine and food to some areas badly in need of help.
In this Christmas season, that hero trait will be most evident. But let us not limit it to this time of year, let us be heroes in any little way all year round.