Heroes Have No Age

For those of you who didn't watch the opening cermonies of the Olympics, I want to introduce you to this little boy.

His name is Lin Hao and he is nine years old. He is a survivor of the earthquake that devestated China this past May.

He was in school walking with two of his friends through a corridor when the earthquake hit. He was injured but managed to break free and then carry his two friends, both unconsious, to safety. He then sang to his other classmates to try and keep their spirits up until help came. When someone asked him why he would do this he told them that he was a leader in his class, he was the hall monitor and he was just doing what he was supposed to do.

Heroes come in all shapes, sizes, colors and even ages. There are all types of heroes, whether it's the woman donating blood, the man giving away his organs, the young man heading off to defend the right of freedom, or the young woman who trades her high paying job to go teach in an inner city high school. The thing about heroes is that they don't just shine in one couragous moment. Sure that's how they get their much deserved glory, but they are heroes everyday.

Because anyone who's been through a tragedy will tell you that in that moment of fear and pain, who you really are shines through. Your adrenaline kicks in and you can't even control what you're doing. In other words it's your instinct.

As much as we love hearing stories about people who exemplified true heoric efforts, we can take comfort in knowing that in most of us lies a hero. Like one of my favorite Rascal Flatt's songs, Everyday, goes, "You could've bowed out gracefully, but you didn't. You knew enough to know to leave well enough alone, but you wouldn't."

We can be a hero in the every day things of life and know that if the moment should ever come to be an epic hero, we will.