Truth Pick #126

A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer. Ralph Waldo Emerson

While we move from danger, there are always those who stride, by choice, towards it. They are not oblivious to the dangers; they understand them better than most. Nor do they ignore the personal risk. They are as fearful as any. They choose to defy it. Armed only with a devoted dedication to strangers, they place themselves amongst the flames.

All reason aside, they ignore common sense, not from ignorance, but from compassion. Hundreds risk, and lose everything, in the hope of finding a single breath of life.

We despair at the lack of heroes and yet we're surrounded by them; they number in the hundreds of thousands. Each would lay down their lives, just on the remote chance they might find and rescue us.

There will always be evil in the world; their wings of darkness could touch any of us. Yet all around us, hidden in the peace of a normal day, are society’s protectors... and in ourselves, a hidden strength.

We raise heroes up in memory, only after they've fallen in life.

Written September 14th 2001

Dedicated to rescue teams worldwide.