Society overlooking true heroes

Too many people we call heroes don't deserve that title. Worse, too many people who deserve to be recognized as heroes, are not. For example, athletes (and some coaches), are THE heroes at IU, hands down. Yet a typical athletic hero simply excels at a sport, in the narrow sense of the term. And that's not enough. A hero should be more than a great athlete.\nAfter all, some athletes are truly great heroes and deserve to recognized as such. Their accomplishments are greater than simply winning games.\nLet the others be just great athletes. Not heroes. \nMilitary heroes are another stock variety that we have too many of. The recent dispute between the Chinese and U.S. governments provides an example. The U.S. had a plane with a crew, the plane was damaged in what was surely a scary midair collision, the crew successfully flew and landed the damaged plane, they were detained for a few days, and they were sent home, where they were welcomed as heroes. Heroes? No. They certainly deserve respect as crew members, and that was probably a much more difficult landing than usual. Apart from that, their job is about as risky as your typical truck driver's. (Which means it does indeed include risk.) Again, there are real military heroes, and they deserve to be recognized. Let the others be what they are -- competent military employees.\nFinally, a single easy action should not make a hero. Pulling someone from a burning building, taking the wheel of a moving bus when the driver collapses -- these are typically carried out without thought, and with less effort than a 50-yard dash. They might be dangerous, have important consequences and the person who does them deserves sincere thanks. But I don't think they are heroic acts. I've done similar things myself, and it was an automatic response propelled by a surge of adrenaline. To be a hero should require more than that.\nSo what heroes are being overlooked? Some are people who go through great adversity most every day and get no public recognition for it. For example, how about people who have a serious mental disorder?\nMany deal with and overcome a whole array of symptoms, from feeling life is so pointless you don't know why you should continue with it, to feeling so nerve-wracked you can't concentrate on anything for more than a few seconds -- and more. They have to endure, they have to struggle and they hope to overcome. And too often, they do much of this alone. \nMost of us have little tolerance for mental disorders (and much of this is true for people who have other diseases). But nobody's asking for their autograph.\nThey don't receive any awards and would probably refuse them; most just want to be accepted for who they are. Even if they are successful in their efforts and then go on to achieve much more -- and are thus deserving of being called a hero-- they won't be seen as such. In overlooking them, we as a society are missing out.\nMany single parents are overlooked heroes. I know raising a child is a wonderful experience, with huge rewards, but it is also hard. Very, very hard. And that's especially true when you are a single parent. As a group, single parents -- especially women -- have little time or money.\nRaising kids is a full-time job, and a typical single parent has that job as well as at least one full-time paying job. But most still have a hard time making ends meet, which means paying rent or buying a home, having a reliable car, paying for medical care, helping to pay for college, plus the innumerable expenses that are part of raising a child to an adult.\nTime for oneself? Vacations? Rarely. Surely, these parents are more worthy of being called heroes than are the "heroic" examples I gave above.\nYet they don't receive that recognition.\nFinally, there are people who work not just for themselves, or their families, but for others. For us. We recognize far too few of them as heroes. Think of your own life, your friends, your community, the groups and organizations you have been part of. Who supported you, cared for you, advised you, and worked to create opportunities for you? Did they go above and beyond in doing so? Have they done the same for others? They might be heroes. And we need more people like them. Let's give them the recognition they deserve.