Heroes

     Did you watch the TV show "Heroes"?  Have you seen the X-Men movies?  As A kid I loved Superman, the Lone Ranger, and most of all, Mighty Mouse.  Yeah, I know, Mighty Mouse was a cartoon.  But he always kissed the girl mouse at the the end.  Mighty Mouse was a chick cartoon.
     Television and movie superheroes are champions of truth, justice, and the American way first, and they masquerade as regular people for their cover.  Regular people don't think about being heroes.  They just rise to the occasion, if the occasion presents itself.  When these regular folks are questioned about their acts of heroism, they usually say that the hero role feels like the masquerade.
     Lately, it seems I encounter stories of heroes everywhere.  I just read the obituary of Ed Ray, the Chowchilla, California bus driver, who, in 1976, led twenty-six children to safety after their bus was high jacked by kidnappers and buried in a rock quarry.    
          http://news.yahoo.com/driver-hero-76-calif-bus-kidnap-dies-163635323.html
     I also read about Leslie Sabo, Jr. who just received the Medal of Honor.  Sabo died 42 years ago saving his patrol in Viet Nam.
          http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/power-players-abc-news/highest-honor-ultimate-sacrifice-102211016.html
     Every now and then, someone falls on the subway tracks in New York, and a fellow New Yorker comes to the rescue.  It happened in 2007 when Cameron Hellopeter had a seizure and Wesley Autry shielded Cameron's body with his own, holding him still while the train passed overhead.  It happened again in 2010 when Carlos Flores pulled Thomas Grant to safety after Grant had a seizure and fell on the tracks.
     When I got my first dog in 1990, I commented to my mother that my Yorkie Spike was a little on the stupid side.  Mom chastised me saying that the "dumb dog" might save my life some day.  I saved the dog's skin a couple of times when she got sick, but she never returned the favor.  She did, however, locate three dead mice that were causing a stink inside a bedroom wall.  I'm sure there are dozens of stories out there about Lassie-esque canine heroes, but I prefer the tale about Lulu, the pot-bellied pig.  Lulu saved her owner when the lady had a heart attack.  The porker squeezed through the doggie door and flopped down in the road trying to catch the attention of passers-by, and she didn't give up until someone followed her back to the house.
          http://old.post-gazette.com/neigh_west/20020409lulu0409p1.asp
     When I was a kid, my neighbor, Lillian Stanley gave her kidney to her son, Fred Stanley.  That was in 1968 or 1969.  A transplanted kidney can last twenty-five years when the donor and recipient are related.  Fred used his mother's kidney for over 40 years.  Sadly, he died in 2010.  Lillian Stanley was a hero.  And you know what else?  She also drove the Hainesport school bus.
     Only a few of us are going to march off to war and give life or limb for our comrades and our country.  Fewer still will have to jump in front of a train to save an epileptic.  If you are a big chicken like me when it comes to needles and pain, you won't volunteer to be a bone marrow donor.  You can, however, still be a hero.  Register as an organ donor through the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles.  http://www.state.nj.us/mvc/Licenses/organ_donor.htm  Like the bumper sticker says, "Don't take your organs to heaven.  Heaven knows, we need them here."   

     And for those of you who love Mighty Mouse, here he comes to save the day:
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws_qtS_2YbM&feature=related