The All-American Hero

How soon … we forget. Who is “The All-American Hero?” Come to the future with me, or into America’s past, or – if you dare – into our dangerous present, and find out. Ask tough questions.

What if I asked you to prepare today to go save someone, but with a catch: When you go, prepare to be shot at, not hailed as some superhero, but met by people trying to kill you? Would you go?

What if I said you get a chance to do this incredible thing – save an innocent child, parent, friend, neighbor, citizen – but there is a second catch: It may cost you your life? Would you do it?

What if I added this: If you say “yes” to the first question, “yes” to the second, get this incredible chance to save that innocent life, and if you actually do save that life, defending yourself as you go, you may not be rewarded for “the good fight,” but condemned for doing the right thing? Still, do it?

You say “yes,” you are made of that stuff. You say, “Yes, test me, allow me to do what is right, show gratitude for those who have done this for me, demonstrate courage and faith in a God who knows my heart and rewards me for my daring …in the name of goodness.”

You say “yes,” and you remind me that – in the dark of the night – we only have “character “when it is tested, the rest is just words, irrelevant. You stop me, look at me, ask me to recall John 15:13.

Slightly embarrassed, I admit I cannot recall the verse, knowing I have probably heard it. You recite it: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Now, I recall it.

So, I ask you: If you are willing to risk getting shot to save one life, willing to lose yours in the process, willing to do all this for another and be condemned … would you do it more than once?

You say “yes,” somehow fortified in your own belief the right will prevail, society only survives when good people do such things, that we cannot live with ourselves if we fail to do them, to step up, to answer the call, to put ourselves second sometimes – just as others have done for us.

I nod, hear your nobility, mull your answer, and so ask: Are you willing to do that same thing, under different circumstances, every day – every single day of your life? That is heavy. I see you pause.

But again, you say “yes.” I am reminded of Theodore Roosevelt, that ancient, intrepid, maverick, who wrote: “Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing,” a former deputy sheriff in North Dakota, police commissioner in New York City, Rough Rider in the Spanish American War, who won the Medal of Honor. It really is all about honor.

What then is this job, this rare opportunity, this chance to give and give, to confront evil daily in such a way that it attacks your peace of mind and life, deals constant risk and strife? What is this job that, by definition, makes you “The American Hero” – willing to fight and die so others live?

What is this job that puts you in “the arena,” makes you prove your convictions, mars your life’s perfection with endless tests, threatens to sully your reputation with condemnation, and paints your face with creases borne of endless stress?

Again, Theodore Roosevelt comes to mind, his epic warning – which is to some an invitation: “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust, sweat, and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again.”

Yes, that singular man, that woman, that person – the one who answers “yes” to all those hard questions – that brave, often self-contained, yet ever-faithful soul is “The All-American hero.”  The one who accepts that stress, risk, and pain, and does what he or she can do for me and you, is the hero.

And so, who is it? Do you not know? Have you not guessed? Do you not recognize who we should be thanking, saying, “God bless you, can I get you a coffee, sir?” It is your local law enforcement officer. How soon …we forget.