Heroes

Yesterday was Memorial Day. A day to memorialize those who have died defending our country. While I wholeheartedly support those who have died defending the USA, I will not automatically group all military personnel into the category of "hero." A hero is "somebody who commits an act of remarkable bravery or who has shown an admirable quality such as great courage or strength of character." I will freely admit that the military has heroes, men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice showing remarkable courage and strength of character. However, I know some people who are in the military and I think their general idea would be closer to Cake's interpretation than the military heroes interpretation:

Red flowers bursting down below us.
Those people didn't even know us.
We didn't know if we would live or die.
We didn't know if it was wrong or right.
I bombed Korea every night.
And so I sit here at this bar.
I'm not a hero.
I'm not a movie star.
I've got my beer.
I've got my stories to tell,
But they won't tell you what it's like in hell.

War is not fun. There is nothing heroic about watching your friends die and wondering if you'll be next. There is nothing heroic about getting to the point where all you can think about, all you can take care of, is the people next to you. If you ask someone who was in a war about it odds are they don't want to talk about it. The real soldiers, the real heroes, go and do their job not for God and country but for the people fighting next to them.

Christ talked about these types of heroes when he said "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." The US Government even recognizes a special class of people, recipients of the Medal of Honor. You want to read about heroes? Read about the people who have won the Medal of Honor. http://www.history.army.mil/moh.html

I am not diminishing the sacrifice of the men and women who die in combat or who serve. That, to me, is the call of duty. Heroes go above and beyond the call of duty. What is your call of duty and how can you go above and beyond it?