Yesterday was a really tough day for me...

I got a call from my mother that they were moving my grandmother back to a home for the elderly...permanently. At 93 years of age, she can no longer live independently. She was recently taken out of the apartment she has lived in for 30 years and put into a home for rehabilitation. Relying on a wheelchair for the past decade has left her without strength enough to move from one chair to another. She was doing well until her insurance decided to cut her funding for the rehab. The options were to let her in the home or to try and bring her back to my parents house and attempt to continue rehabilitation there. Without much thought, my mom brought her home only to find out just how big of a burden it was going to be. My parents both work and the house is not set up properly for a wheelchair and the only option was to try to find a nicer home where she can live with the help of certified aids.

I have fond memories growing up in a tight-knit family. I don't remember much of my grandfather other than shaking his hand. He passed away 22 years ago when I was only 5. Since then, my grandmother has lived by herself in the same small apartment with next to nothing. Through it all, she has always stood out to me as a shining beacon of happiness and a pillar of strength when everybody else around her was weak. She has always been thankful, faithful, honest and above all...giving.

My mom had to explain to my grandmother that she was being sent back to a home. With the little bit that she gets in SS, after paying for the care she will have an extra $45 dollars a month. Her response was.."How will I be able to buy everybody Christmas gifts?"

Such a small amount but she gives everything she can. She always has.

And that is why she is my hero.

Sorry for the sobering post. Who is your hero?

my son

Fred Hollows

http://www.hollows.org.au/

He was born to a drunk father and a drug addicted mother.

He and his sister fended for themselves from age 5 after their mother took them and left their father

they spent 4 years enduring their mother's indifference and her boyfriends' violence and resentment

he protected his sister throughout.

he and his sister escaped when they were 9 years of age and found safety

he is the kindest most gentle soul I know, a 32 year old man of conscience and integrity

6'6" tall and as broad as a linebacker, the warmest smile and always ready for a laugh

he survived events that would have blackened any child's heart for life or left them broken

he carries kindness rather than bitterness and has the capacity to love others fully and profoundly

he is not famous or commercially great....

but he is authentically heroic in that he transcended a savage early childhood with grace and dignity

like BP......... my son gets my vote

Awesome posts people.

i have a couple

When I was having a great time after getting divorced and before getting married again I dated a few Single  Moms.   They all worked very hard and sacrificed and their main priority was their kids.   Left me with a lasting impression and although they won't be bringing home any DFC's or Navy Crosses, as far as I'm concerned Single Moms are right up there in the Hero category.

Quote from: Langanobob on February 17, 2013, 07:39:52 AM
When I was having a great time after getting divorced and before getting married again I dated a few Single  Moms.   They all worked very hard and sacrificed and their main priority was their kids.   Left me with a lasting impression and although they won't be bringing home any DFC's or Navy Crosses, as far as I'm concerned Single Moms are right up there in the Hero category.

Agreed. I married one. Although I still think she's a single Mom!

Quote from: Langanobob on February 17, 2013, 07:39:52 AM
When I was having a great time after getting divorced and before getting married again I dated a few Single  Moms.   They all worked very hard and sacrificed and their main priority was their kids.   Left me with a lasting impression and although they won't be bringing home any DFC's or Navy Crosses, as far as I'm concerned Single Moms are right up there in the Hero category.

+1

Parenting is the hardest thing I have ever done.

Selflessness is one of the attributes of a great hero. It is also one of the concepts that is incredibly hard to grasp nowadays. What with the media and 7 billion people out there telling you that you have to have this and that and look a certain way.

To give everything up for someone else 

Great thread!  It made do a little searching
http://raproject.org/blog/entry/what-really-is-a-hero-anyway

While there are many interpretations of what a hero is, the Every|Day Hero Campaign has adopted the definition used by the Heroic Imagination Project:

Heroes are people who transform compassion (a personal virtue) into heroic action (a civic virtue). In doing so, they put their best selves forward in service to humanity. A hero is as an individual or a network of people that take action on behalf of others in need, or in defense of integrity or a moral cause.

Heroic action is:
Engaged in voluntarily;
Conducted in service to one or more people or the community as a whole;
Involving a risk to physical comfort, social stature, or quality of life; and
Initiated without the expectation of material gain.

I had the fortune of being a clueless, lost grad student in SF, 3000 miles from my family in 2002.  Ended up working part time for a very small construction company.  The owner was a vietnam vet who spent nearly 20 years working for Ma Bell before retiring in his forties.  He ended up becoming something of a mentor to me and the list of ways in which I consider him a hero are numerous, but include:

- After 40 years of smoking a pack of marlboros/day, he quit cold turkey at 63 years old.  Not one cigarette.  Not one patch.  Not one piece of nicoderm.  He did it because his granddaughter asked him to from time to time and he said he would.  One day after a weekend visiting grandpa, she was acting funny about being dropped off at a friends.  Eventually it was discovered that she was embarrassed because her jacket smelled of smoke from spending the weekend at his house.  He quit the next week and never smoked again.

- He suffered from medical issues, including chronic pancreatitis, liver issues, and then cancer.   He experienced immense daily pain but would not take painkillers, and was often bent over wrenching from the pain.  Yet I was only one of three people he would do this in front of.  In the company of others he held it all in because he NEVER wanted to be a burden on others nor have them worry about him.  I remember a thanksgiving where his eyes were wet and bloodshot from the pain but would not excuse himself or do anything to detract from the day's festivities.

- He also suffered from severe PTSD, which made it hard for him to be around lots of people.  Yet he constantly involved with other and would manage to mentor, advise, support, and assist any and everyone he came in contact with that needed a hand or, like, me was just plain clueless in life.

In the end, it was all about family and friends to him.  He taught me more about what it means selflessly care for others than I could ever imagine.

Quote from: Langanobob on February 17, 2013, 07:39:52 AM
When I was having a great time after getting divorced and before getting married again I dated a few Single  Moms.   They all worked very hard and sacrificed and their main priority was their kids.   Left me with a lasting impression and although they won't be bringing home any DFC's or Navy Crosses, as far as I'm concerned Single Moms are right up there in the Hero category.

i agree with you, except i bet there are some single moms around who actually have earned military or other awards for distinguished service.