I think that two of the most important qualities that a hero has to have are humility and understanding. It helps if we understand why other people behave the way they do and why we ourselves behave the way we do. Humility means that a person doesn’t need or want to be acknowledged for their heroic actions, and true heroes are usually quite shy about it and don’t want to make a big deal about what they have done that other people think is heroic. For example, if there are lots of people at the swimming hole in Taylorville and a child who can’t swim falls into the river, somebody has to make a quick decision about what to do. The ‘hero’ will look around for obstacles, make a quick plan, jump in, and pull the child to safety. Afterwards, he/she will not want to have lots of attention, and they will probably say something like “I didn’t really think about it, I just knew I had to do it”. We all have a little bit of hero in us, you and me, your friends, my friends, our families...we all deal with huge challenges all the time. Being a hero doesn’t have to mean that you save someone from drowning, it could be as simple as understanding that someone needs your help, and just helping them.
My mother is my hero. She has to look after me and my brother all by herself because my dad lives in Auckland. It isn’t easy for her, sometimes she has to come to school and have meetings with Mr England about me because sometimes I don’t behave very well at school. My younger brother is only seven, he doesn’t really understand very much about life and he makes lots of mess that Mum needs to clean up. When Mum comes home from work she is really tired, because she works fulltime as well as looking after us. But, she always gives us both a big hug and asks us about our day, and she always has a smile for us even though she is tired. Mum knows and understands everything, she never yells at my brother to clean up his own mess, and she never is angry at me for not doing well at school. This makes both of us feel really bad and we try harder! Heroes come in lots of shapes and sizes, lots of people think heroes are only in the movies, but I know different, because I know that my mother is the best hero.
I think that firemen and firewomen are really heroic. They are not people that we see very often, every time the fire siren goes off we just listen to it and think to ourselves “There is a fire somewhere” but we don’t really think about it. However, the firemen and firewomen drop everything they are doing and race to the fire station to leap onto the fire engine, not knowing what kind of situation they are getting into. They could be going to a very nasty car accident and the car is on fire, or they need to use the Jaws of Life to get people out of the car. They could be going to a burning building where there are people inside and they have to go into the building to save them, and risk their own lives. There are so many heroes out there in our communities that are looking out for us: doctors and nurses, policemen and women, road workers...the list goes on and on. We should try to remember this, and when we see them doing the jobs they do to make our lives safe, we should thank them!
