A hero isn't braver than the ordinary man.....

He is just braver 5 minutes longer...Ralph Waldo Emmerson. So when does your 5 minutes begin? Do circumstances make the hero? Or do some people just shine so brightly that they would be considered heroes in any day and age? Is being a hero the one who can hit the ball farther than anyone else or is the hero the one who spends his time after work teaching inner city kids to read? Or helping out at the homeless shelter? Or working with people suffering from abuse? Do you have to be brave to stand up in front of a room full of strangers and tell them your biggest mistakes in life, your fears, your broken dreams and hope you help one of them?
Did it ever occur to everyone reading this post that at one time in your life you have been a hero to someone? You have. You were called and you answered. You may not have a clue when but at least once in your life you were brave just 5 minutes longer. And that is the point of this post. The hero is in all of us. Most of us (myself included) are so afraid of what people might say if we fail that we forget how often we succeed. We dwell on what we haven't done or we are not instead of who we are and what we have done. Take a minute and think of someone you helped. A kind word or a shoulder to cry on. Advice from the been there, done that, got the court order in my pocket school of hard knocks. Sometimes is as simple as being an inspiration because you don't give in to fear or bad times.
Many of you who follow these rants have been a hero to me. My job as I see it is to be a hero to someone else. Pass it on is what they say in the meetings. Be brave for that extra 5 minutes and stand tall. I learned some time ago that fear is what keeps most of us from greatness. So the question I leave you with this morning is, "What are you so afraid of?" "Is your life over if you try something and fail?" The questions are yours and mine to answer. For at least the next 5 minutes.


Till next......