Heroes In Our Own Eyes

Isn’t it the truth that all of us are thrust into the world and find ourselves, at least in the beginning, in the hands of strangers. If we are very fortunate these strangers form, or have formed, an emotional attachment to us newborns such that they undertake to care for us in our helpless state. We may, or may not, come to wonder about how that came to be. We may learn from that experience how we should treat others that we come to know in our lives.

 If we are very fortunate, these strangers will lavish their resources upon us. In appreciation we may return an emotional response such that we may regard them as family, a relationship that is different than that with those outside the family circle.  We may return an interest and care for them for the balance of our lives.

We may learn from this experience how to interact productively with others who are outside the family circle. But, we ultimately come to understand that, although the family relationship is important, we are individually responsible for the shape of our relationships with others.

Ultimately, we are challenged to find some purpose for our existence.  We can observe around us the whole spectrum of responses to this challenge. Some never respond and spend their lives seeking only sensory pleasures. Some may be trapped into a kind of slavery responding only to the needs of others rather than our own needs, finding their satisfactions in that kind of role. Most of us will want our own share of the good things of life as a return for our labors. Some will be motivated only by a thirst for personal gain of some kind. Those around us who perceive that in us may flee our association even though we may try to hide that as well as we can.

Many of us, I believe, will seek to fill roles in their lives that will enable them to see themselves as heroes. Some will seek the emotional rewards they can derive from the satisfactions coming from that motivation. We may need to foster our own benefits, at least for the sake of our near and dear, but our underlying motivation will reside in the benefits our actions can generate for the benefit of others, even strangers. We need that because it may be that special ingredient that, for us, will allow us to see ourselves as the heroes most of us truly believe we are.

Whether the shape of our lives form streaks of light like comets, altering lives, for the better, of a multitude of humans  across the globe, or whether we live a life that makes one other person besides ourselves lead a brighter and happier life, many of us need to be able to feel that we have done that so we can feel we are heroes, even if only in our own eyes. Then, in this world that can be so chaotic, we can have a quiet satisfaction in the life we are living, or have lived.