True Stories Celebrating Everyday Heroes!

This page is for celebrating your everyday heroes as described in Way #60 from the book 100 Ways to Strengthen & Unify Our Country. Please send us your true story about your everyday hero, under 200 words please. In the subject line type "post" and be sure to include your name and address so we can post it with your story. And, don't forget to give your story a title. We'll e-mail you when your story is posted so you (and your hero) can read it. We hope you'll tell a friend about this site, especially your everyday hero.

"Nanette" by Elizabeth from West Palm Beach, Florida, October 22, 2002

One of my personal heroes is a friend I'll call Nanette. She seemed like an ordinary person who for many years lived an ordinary life. She had a wonderful husband and they had a terrific son, and they lived in a very comfortable home. They were surrounded by a warm and loving extended Christian family and had numerous interesting friends. Although they were involved in worthwhile work, they found time to aid in charity work. Life was good. Then, during the summer before their son was to enter his senior year of high school, they were all on a family outing in a quiet New England coastal town, and one day when the son was riding his bike into the village, he was struck by a car which had run the red light. He suffered a serious head injury which severely damaged his brain. His physical recovery was long and slow, and he never recovered his mental abilities. This was a boy who was an honor student and an outstanding athlete. After several years of rehabilitation, on his twenty-first birthday, he was functioning mentally as a two-year-old. Two years earlier, while the son was rehabilitating, his father died somewhat suddenly from a rapidly-developed brain tumor.

Nanette is my hero because through all of this, she never lost her positive frame of mind. She accepted these traumas without public complaint. I saw her fairly often, and she was always positive and optimistic, even cheerful. Her faith in God and the goodness of life never wavered, and I never heard her question why these terrible events happened to her. As I got to know her even better, I realized that she was truly an amazing person in that she accepted with a smile whatever came her way and she just carried on with the business of living with an abiding faith that everything has its purpose and all is right with the world. In addition to caring for her son and her husband, she found time to help others. She always expressed joy and gratitude and happiness, and her cheerful, positive attitude very much affected the people with whom she came in contact, including me. I have always tended to be pessimistic and am easily de-railed by all manner of minor mishaps. Nowadays, thanks to Nanette, in all the little situations in daily life that can be so irritating, I think of her and how she is so great with the big things, and then I smile and feel ashamed of myself, and I go on with a better attitude about the little blips and a prayer for strength and grace when faced with the big challenges, like my hero, Nanette. Nanette truly demonstrates what it means to live every day with joy.

"My Mother - My Hero" by Cindy Reames, Plano, TX, CAReames, July 30, 2002

My hero is my mother Norma Smith. Several years After divorcing my father for very good reasons, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He was not being taken care of by his present wife who had basically deserted him post-surgery. Following his divorce, my mother agreed to take him back into her home because she cared enough about her children to take care of their father in his final days. She changed her life for a period and sacrificed greatly, for the sake of her children so that they could see their father happy in his final days. It brought us all back together as a family again, and we all cared for him in the last 18 months of his life. My father died with his entire family at his bedside in the home my mother and he had shared for so many years - and the home I grew up in.

When my mother remarried 15 years later, she brought a wonderful man Lowell Smith into our family. We all loved Lowell and he brought great happiness into our lives and filled a void which we had felt since the loss of our father. My mother and Lowell shared a wonderful marriage and many happy memories. After ten years of marriage, Lowell was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Again my mother and her children were faced with caring for a man in his final days. My mother though elderly devoted herself entirely to him in the last 18 months of his life, and we all helped take care of him, as we had our natural father in his final days. Lowell died in my Mother's arms, in exactly the same room and the same location that my father had died in 15 years prior with his family at his bedside.

Through all of this pain and sadness, my mother has been the rock that has held our family together. This is only a small example of the strength and love my mother exhibits. She is entirely selfless and always puts others before herself. She has not only been everything anyone could ask for in a mother, but she has also been my very best friend and the most inspirational Christian who displays the Golden Rule not just through words, but through her deeds.

I love you Mom - You are not only my hero, but also my very best friend.

"Liam" by Jill Young, 911 Sun Prairie #1503, Houston, TX. 77090, jmy314@aol.com, July 10, 2002

Liam thank you son, my miracle baby, light of my life. You have touched so many hearts and brought so many smiles. I could not have asked God for a more special little boy. You have taught me how to love, fight for what I believe in and most of all NOT TO GIVE UP! I never thought that I would see your first birthday, but here you are already 4 yrs old. My how time has passed so quickly. When you were born God sent me one of his angels to watch over you. I hope that you will have everything in life that your little heart desires as you deserve it. I love you Little Bear, Mommy

"Thank you Alison" by Richard Baur, 8517 Winchester, Sterling Hats, MI 48313, Richard.Baur@Nextel.com, July 9, 2002

My hero happens to be my ex-girlfriend Alison. Over the past 6 years she has taught me so much. She has helped me to change for the better. She taught me that it was all right to be a man and CARE for others. She taught me that it was all right to be a man and Love others. She taught me that there is more to life then just me. It is so hard to put into words everything that she has taught me and how much she has meant to me. Because of her I am the man that I always wanted to be. I am always thankful that she graced my life with her presence. For without her I dare not think of what I would have become. What I am now is someone who cares and loves. Thank you Alison!!!

"Thank you Mr. Z." by Loretta Grace, PO Box 216, Rahway, NJ 07065, psiwolf@comcast.net , July 8, 2002

When I was in grade school, I was the one everyone picked on. Now I would be called a geek, but back then I wasn't called anything, wasn't noticed unless one of my classmates wanted something. They saw no reason to pay back money they borrowed, or to help me out when I needed something. I was a decent student, but since I was neither the star pupil, nor the troublemaker, I was pretty much overlooked. I didn't pass notes or talk in class, start fights or forget my homework. My worst crime was losing myself in a book and not hearing the teacher call my name. I never bothered telling the teacher what was going on, because I knew that nothing would change if I did.

In eighth grade, one teacher saw me, really saw me and decided I no longer should feel invisible. I heard him through the door talking about how I was a human being with real feelings and I should be treated as such. The kids really didn't change after that, but the memory has stuck with me to this day. Thank you Mr. Zonkowski, wherever you are. I never forgot you.

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