Find a Hero

The world is missing the good sort of heroes these days. I had a few in the past, people who who stood up for others, worked with integrity in difficult situations, or used whatever fame or talent they had to further kindness in the world. There are always a few, working quietly, but they don’t get as much purchase in today’s attention economy.

I thought about this while reading an article about the Dalai Llama. He has represented a kinder world for decades, but he’s ninety now and his succession is in question. The Chinese would like to choose a person to replace him like a lottery when he dies, but that goes against the idea that he’s going to be reincarnated. The principle of that doesn’t function. It’s like choosing a blood relative. Either they share your bloodline or they don’t but you can’t pick a brother or sister from a tombola.

This seems to be a theme today: love and the corruption of love. With social media prying so much into people’s lives, it’s hard to find someone pure enough to look up to, and when we do find one, they’re denigrated as milquetoast or not interesting enough. But we don’t care about that, do we!

So this week, try to find someone in your life who is a hero, even if it’s in a small way: a mother who does her best with small children, a man who has chosen a career that may not pay that much but it satisfying to him, a person who runs after someone to give back a fallen scarf or an umbrella left behind. Just watch and observe, and when you find it that person, tell their story to someone. It’s all about the positive feedback loop. Send it out and it will come back to you. Because you concentrated on the good side of someone, your own good side has more of chance. You can do it. You can find a hero.