A
Hero Among Our Friends
There’s a hero among us all.
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| Champion Trophy for Friend |
From our parents to our neighbours, from our leaders to the
strangers on the street, from our soldiers to the families across the continents
and millions across the globe. We believe we have seen them all, either on a
daily basis or through the media. And yes there are numerous more we are certain
we will come across in future. In fact the hero in us too, will surprise us at
some point in our life.
But how many of us are aware of the hero among our own
friends.
Yes, we have
our favourite friends who help us with those highly valuable tiny bits of
favours, we have our close friends with whom we can confide and inspire us with
their timely counsels and we have those special friends who suddenly appear in
our lives just in time when everyone else seems to be helpless. But what about
those friends in our list who may or may not be close to us, the very friends
who you think have got it all- those who you think are doing great in life
while you were late in grabbing opportunities, those very friends who you think
have problems that are no match for your mountain of problems. Do you think
that the only heroism they have inspired you with is the fact that they had a
great academic life, excelled in sports, singing and dancing, and is now well
settled in life with the spouse of their dreams?
While they can give you those expert opinions on how to
solve complex algebraic equations and theorems, train you on how to time
yourself for that perfect smash on the badminton court and advice you on the
best career path based on your interests and skills, do you think that this is
the only heroic deeds you see in them? Or maybe the fact that they were motivated
throughout their life for that perfect report card scoring, or that
championship trophy or that company which will reward them with those big pay
checks and perks for the softwares they develop. Was this motivation that you
saw in their eyes that motivated you too and so, they are now a hero to you? If
so, then yes, they rightly deserve that compliment because not only have they
worked hard for it but they also helped you in the process. But have you ever
realised that beyond all that motivation there could have been another major personal
motivation that helped them fight their way through life.
Perhaps this personal motivation isn’t as big as those other
motivations which helped you. But for them, in their personal lives, it was a
major motivations and something they could not share with anyone else because
what they were going through was indeed a survival tactic that was the need of
the hour for each day in their life. We have all heard of stories where people
have been victims of various kinds of abuse and how they came up in life just
because of their will to survive and sheer determination that they will be a
victor no matter what. So, what if there was a possibility that one of our
friends was in a similar situation.
Maybe our successful friend is successful today because they
endured a test of fire that probably none of us have endured, and in time they
learnt to effectively crawl out of any situation no matter how hard or how
painful the torments were. And that brought out the best in them- the fact that
that they learnt not only to face struggles, but tolerate it, adapt to it,
control it both physically and emotionally, find out ways and means to
encounter it, search for outlets, select the best and most appropriate one for
the moment and most of all finding the courage from within to say “come what
may, I will move on” and finally using this courage in embracing the outside
world. This outside world, where challenges are common and hard for the common
man, where opportunities are plenty but not readily grabbed, where obstructions
and attacks follow you on a daily basis. Yet these were hurdles that seemed
nothing for our successful friend in our friends list.
Each day of struggle that they went through in their
personal lives brought out the strength, determination and courage which they
utilised not only to jump over those hurdles, but jump high enough to snatch
that flag of victory and personally acknowledge that victory and be content
with one more gem in their bag of jewels.
To bravehearts like these the fight is not over.
There are still many more personal and general trophies for
them to achieve. As of now, thanking the Lord and moving on is a song they can
never stop singing. In every corner of this world, there are many bravehearts that
have sprung up in different situations. Some are known, some are not. But have
we ever thought that we have braveheart friends such as these in our own lives,
whose outward help and motivations are not the only thing that can inspire us,
but also the way they fought their inward emotions in a world of physical battles,
can teach us even greater things in life.
Today, will you speak to your friends, not to give your
help, counsel or sympathy, but just to lend your ear to what they have to say?
Will you be that outlet for them so they will be heard? Will you help them help
you?
And today, for a change, will you be their hero?
To our brave and close friend, you are a
champion for all of us!
An Garda Siochana- Ireland's National Police Service is seeking the public's help in locating Richard "Ricky" wall, aged 14, who has been missing from Baltinglass since Friday, 17 April 2015 from 1pm onwards.
