....... "Hero". That word is used to describe so many types of people these days and most times it is used in an exaggerated manner. I'm a huge sports fan but to use the word "hero" when it comes to professional atheletes...... uh, no thanks.

So I want you to tell me about the "Hero" in YOUR life. Is your hero someone currently in your life or someone from the past?

I'll start:

I have a Hero from the past:

I've written in the past about my old baseball coach....Coach Harry. Harry coached me in Pony League ball from the time I was 12 years old until I was 18 years old. In those 7 years Harry took about two dozen rough city kids, many of us on the edges of trouble, and taught us about being part of a team, working together, life, compassion, baseball.... and in the end Love.
Harry was about 5 feet 5 inches tall and couldn't throw a baseball 30 feets. When we had infield practice I would move in halfway between third base and home plate and tease Harry to hit at me as hard as he could. He never hit it hard enough to hurt a fly because he couldn't but he would laugh like Hell along with all of us boys.
Harry was a simple man of simple means...... but he loved every one of us very tough boys. At the time we were kids so we didn't understand what Harry really meant to us. But over the years...... into my twenties and into my thirties I would run into those old city boys and we always talked about how Harry influenced our lives.... and how we loved him.
I lost touch with all those guys years ago but about two years ago I started searching for Harry.... praying he hadn't passed away. Last Spring I tracked down his son...who also played ball with us for a year or two. Unfortunately Harry had passed about two months before I tracked his son down.
I wept openly at this news and thought about how much he meant to me. It turns out that two of the guys that I played ball with on those teams were pallbearers at Harry's funeral.
As a testimony to Harry, not one of those boys he coached was ever in trouble with the law and all turned out to be good Family men. All tough boys on the verge of trouble... turned into good men by a very simple man.
Rest in Peace Coach Harry and know that we all loved you...........

I agree Mike.  That word is often over used.  

I agree 100%, Winning the Sugar Bowl or Being a N.Y. Yankee doesn't count.
The real definition of Hero is one that doesn't return home or leaves a majority of themselves on that battlefront, the ones that are hookin' and jabbin' against the most horrific vile individuals, the ones that keep this nation safe at night here and far away and the one's that will disregard there safety in order to preserve another.

http://www.merlinsmiracles.com/
http://www.officerrichardmay.net/
http://www.richmayfoundation.org/
http://www.navyseals.com/marcus-luttrell
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-01-02-subway-rescue_x.htm
http://www.odmp.org/
http://www.firehero.org/

Yes, hero is certainly a much over used word and I think most people do not realy understand the word.  One definition is: "a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities".  There is definitely no requirement for a hero to have died - it is the act that counts.  While I agree with the the idea that many heros come from our civil workers - armer forces, fire, police and emergency workers - I believe there are many other that act heroiclly and we rarely hear about them.

In addition to 'hero' other overworked words that have lost their true meaning include: genius, and tragic.  I feel sick when a sports commentator declares that some sporting incident was either the result of genius or was tragic.  To me, there is no sports where the actors can be either a genius or tragic.  They are simply grossly overpaid entertainers that add no long term value to society.

Ken

In addition to 'hero' other overworked words that have lost their true meaning include: genius, and tragic.  I feel sick when a sports commentator declares that some sporting incident was either the result of genius or was tragic.  To me, there is no sports where the actors can be either a genius or tragic.  They are simply grossly overpaid entertainers that add no long term value to society.
Ken

Right on!

I don't know if this was meant to be a discussion centered on the word "hero" or what words we perceive as overused.

I'm going on the assumption that the latter is the case when I suggest that the word "accountable" is overused, most notably by the political fazoolies that I see on the teevee almost every day. When they talk about holding people accountable they are talking about teachers who have been put in charge of a 40 student classroom being held accountable when not all of their students achieve straight As or pass their standardized tests. But they never use the word accountable when they speak of themselves and their own misdeeds, or if they do use it the word simply has no real meaning. Every time I hear a politician use the word "accountable" I throw up in my mouth a little.
OK, stopping the rant now.