Who's Your Hero?
So...my daughter just asked me to attend her "Heroes Day" celebration at school. She's 14...and I'm just glad that she still talks to me, much less invites me to Heroes Day. She caught me a bit off-guard though when she asked who my hero was...
First...and always at the top of the list is my Grandfather, Robert Williams. He was a man who worked hard for a living...a welder. He worked hard so his son would be able to achieve great things. His son (my Father), Dan Williams, did indeed achieve great things. His son became one of the best paramedics and emergency medical professionals in the United States. He also made sure that his Grandson, Yours Truly, would know both what it meant to work for a living...REALLY work for a living...and dream of a future that he knew in his heart he'd never know himself. Its funny to think of the world your Grandfather lived in...until you turn 40 and try to explain to your daughter that a "car phone" was once the size of a shoebox and often came in a "bag." Sigh.... He knew I'd make it. Somehow he just knew. And somehow he knew that I'd appreciate the great distance that was traveled between a poor farmer (my Great-Grandfather) and someone who would own a $250,000 house and a $30,000 truck. Maybe not impressive to you, and maybe not even real impressive to me...but imagine what your Father or Grandfather or Great-Grandfather would think. But, the best part about my Grandfather was that, while he might be superficially impressed by those figures, he'd be more impressed by the Father I had become. The kind of Father that a 14 year old girl might want to take to "Heroes Day."
But a very close second is Walt Disney. Here is a man who didn't let failure or critics stop him from believing in his imagination. Here is a man who actually got to see the "visions" of his imagination come true (hint...Disneyland)
'
This picture is one of the most powerful I have ever come across. A man and his vision, realized, in concrete and lumber.
Here is a man so wrapped up in his imagination that he envisioned the general layout of Walt Disney World, a place he'd never actually see, on the ceiling tiles above his hospital bed the night before he died.
So...Who is your hero?
First...and always at the top of the list is my Grandfather, Robert Williams. He was a man who worked hard for a living...a welder. He worked hard so his son would be able to achieve great things. His son (my Father), Dan Williams, did indeed achieve great things. His son became one of the best paramedics and emergency medical professionals in the United States. He also made sure that his Grandson, Yours Truly, would know both what it meant to work for a living...REALLY work for a living...and dream of a future that he knew in his heart he'd never know himself. Its funny to think of the world your Grandfather lived in...until you turn 40 and try to explain to your daughter that a "car phone" was once the size of a shoebox and often came in a "bag." Sigh.... He knew I'd make it. Somehow he just knew. And somehow he knew that I'd appreciate the great distance that was traveled between a poor farmer (my Great-Grandfather) and someone who would own a $250,000 house and a $30,000 truck. Maybe not impressive to you, and maybe not even real impressive to me...but imagine what your Father or Grandfather or Great-Grandfather would think. But, the best part about my Grandfather was that, while he might be superficially impressed by those figures, he'd be more impressed by the Father I had become. The kind of Father that a 14 year old girl might want to take to "Heroes Day."
But a very close second is Walt Disney. Here is a man who didn't let failure or critics stop him from believing in his imagination. Here is a man who actually got to see the "visions" of his imagination come true (hint...Disneyland)
'This picture is one of the most powerful I have ever come across. A man and his vision, realized, in concrete and lumber.
Here is a man so wrapped up in his imagination that he envisioned the general layout of Walt Disney World, a place he'd never actually see, on the ceiling tiles above his hospital bed the night before he died.
So...Who is your hero?
Comments