PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

Today I’m grateful for a better understanding of what a hero is:

for 72 years life has been my teacher

And she has taught me a hero 

is anyone determined to make this world a better place

for every living creature.

May we all be blessed to have heroes cross our paths

Those who help to make us who we are, 

who set our spirits free 

and thus…

We hope they all know who they are 

and 

how much their heroism meant to us.

When we were young there were heroes and there were monsters

and in our innocent and limited childhood view…

from Fairy Tales and with our parents help

it was easy to tell the difference between the two.

In the evening when we woke from a nightmare and our hearts were filled with dread….

our heroes were our parents who vanquished the monsters beneath our bed. 

In our Fairy Tales it was easy to tell the good people from the bad.

They were strong honorable men and woman…just like Mom and Dad

But it becomes more difficult as we grow…the more our wings are spread…

when the monsters aren’t just the ones who sleep beneath our bed.

Some monsters were easy to spot…they didn’t try to hide themselves away.

They wore swastika’s on their clothing like the Nazi’s or white sheets like the KKK. 

But it became more difficult to tell the heroes from the monsters…

when their swastikas they shed

when they wore tailored suits to work instead of hoods upon their heads. .

What makes monsters different today is that they could be anyone we see….

At first glance there’s no way to tell difference between them and you and me.

They can be our neighbor…or someone we once thought of as a friend…

and we will never comprehend or fathom the horrors they intend.

Today the only way to distinguish one monster from the rest

Is to follow their path of evil, their destructiveness…their unrest.

Now, when we search for a happy ending…dream of a better day…

it’s up to us to become the heroes and every evil monster to slay.

To work for the day with the other heroes help these monsters will no longer exist…

the day when we are blessed to have no more monsters in our midst.

The day when we live in a world where we don’t cause our children any dread

the day when the only monsters they need to worry about…

are the ones beneath their bed.

Today I’m blessed to have a host of heroes in my life.

A long line of heroes I hope will never end

I find them in the strength, 

the courage 

the support

and the love 

of my family… 

and my friends. 

I’ve heard people say heroes are getting harder and harder to find

You may call me idealistic

But I find that message to be too gloomy, too dark and much too pessimistic.

I found my first heroes in Fairy Tales

I admired their courage, their integrity…their power…

They were the ones unafraid to face the dragons…to save the princesses in the tower.

My next heroes were sports figures…which made it a lot of fun

They passed for the winning touchdown, shot the winning basket

or scored the winning run.

Next, I found my heroes in the pages of books about history…

Their names were Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin and John F. Kennedy.

But when I learned more about my heroes…I was astounded by what I found

Abe couldn’t control his children, Ben abandoned his family

and Johnny fooled around.

One day I realized to find my heroes…I didn’t have to look very far…

My dad was a postal worker and my mom…a nurse in an ER.

These are the people who loved me…whose inspiration and guidance I sought

which, to me, was more important than if they slew any dragon or not.

I found my heroes didn’t have to save the entire world or make the winning score…

they could be a nurse and a postal worker who lived on the other side of my front door. 

Yes, I’m proud to profess in the final stanzas of this now lengthy rhyme

The heroes I once went looking for…had been with me all the time.

To those who say heroes are harder to find…I say…not in my book

because the keys to finding heroes…is knowing where to look.