Thursday; April 23

I know that I am going to upset some people with what I am about to say, but I am going to go ahead and say it ... staying at home does not make us heroes!   The other day when I heard someone advocate that we can act heroically by staying home, it just struck me the wrong way.  Does staying at home make us good neighbors?  Yes!  Can it help save lives?  Probably!  But not doing something isn’t what makes heroes.  Heroes are those who go out of their way to do something extraordinary.  They risk their lives or their reputations to promote something they believe in.  Doing the right thing doesn’t make us heroes – it makes us … right.
There are a couple of reasons for me writing this.  First, I believe that heroism should be reserved for those who have earned it.  Those medical folks who risk their own personal health to treat others, they are heroes.  Those first responders who are willing to risk their lives to protect us from evil and harm, they are heroes.  Those men and women who serve in our armed forces and keep us safe in our homes, they are heroes.  Let’s give them the honor they deserve.
Secondly, when we start to laud common “rightness”, we tend to lower the bar.  If doing the right thing is heroic, that means that it takes extraordinary effort to do the right thing.  Using this logic, if we don’t want to have to put out extra effort to do the right thing, then we are justified if we don’t want to not acting correctly.  I can do less than what is expected and still be seen as okay.
Maybe I am making too much of this; but, let’s choose words carefully.  When we don’t, they merely become words – not truth.
Think About It!

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