In today's society like in the past, kids have heroes. This is

a good thing. However, in modern society it seems the process

of selecting heroes has become rather muddled or confused. Fame

should not necessarily make a person a hero. We have experienced

this from both sides: first as parents of two sons who chose

heroes while growing up, and now with two sons who have

distinguished themselves as outstanding athletes who are often

the object of hero worship.

Please hang in here with us on this one so there is no

misinterpretation of what we are attempting to say with this

article. We do believe that both our sons are worthy heroes.

Both are moral and admirable people with a strong sense of

family. It is just alarming to see how so many people have

selected them. Many children have been taught to or at least

allowed to select their heroes/role models based upon nothing

more than skill at a game. Few of these kids know much about

their heroes beyond this particular skill. If children had been

taught some criteria or standards for selecting role models, it

would be different.

Allow us to illustrate with a personal example. Barbara's

Father, Dick Matthews, died suddenly last week. His five

grandchildren delivered the eulogy at the funeral. It was

obvious to all in attendance that "Grandpa Dick" was a hero to

all five. As they spoke of him through their tears, they all

mentioned his hero status in their eyes and used words like

loyal, dedicated to his wife, hard-working, honest, a man whose

word was his bond, as well as describing a fun Grandpa who

always had a smile a mile wide.

Dick Matthews was quite a fellow. Nobody could outwork him

outside his home. He built houses for a living but he also ran

a 120-acre farm and did odd jobs on the side as was needed for

extra money. If necessary, I'm certain he would have taken a

night job to provide for his family and he did all of his work

cheerfully, and with a bounce of purpose in his step. Inside

their home it was a different story. In his house, Dick was the

king and Maxine, his loving wife of 56 years, waited upon him

hand an foot. It was not a "modern" romance but rather one from

a previous generation and it worked beautifully for them. Dick

earned a living and Maxine kept up the home.

Then, ten years ago, tragedy struck that loving couple and

Maxine was stricken by a severe stroke. Overnight she became in

need of around-the-clock care rather than being the caregiver.

Without the slightest blink, Dick became that 24-hour, 7 days a

week caregiver and on top of it he began to do all of the

housework! He did all of the laundry, cooking, cleaning,

shopping and everything else Maxine had done for all the years

of their partnership of love.

A year ago, while out to breakfast alone with Dick, I was

struck by the enormity of the change he had made on behalf of

his loving wife and I asked him how he made such an amazing

change so suddenly and so cheerfully. His answer really

affected me that day and it will always be in my memory. He

looked back at me, got tears in his eyes, and then quietly

said, "One day 56 years ago, I said 'I do'..."

At his funeral each of his grandkids said that one thing they

had learned from Grandpa Dick was to honor commitments! They

each got the message.

We as adults need to hold people like Dick Matthews up as

heroes to our children! We all know people in our families and

in our neighborhoods that are so worthy of being heroes to our

kids. We must not be so careless as to think that kids will

seek out these remarkable but often quiet people; we need to

teach them what a real hero is and point out some in their

immediate surroundings. Sure an athlete makes a flashy hero and

many are worthy of the status, but let's be careful to teach our

kids what makes a person worthy of hero or role model status.

Make tomorrow "Hero Day" in your family and talk about what

makes a real hero!