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One of my online English sessions begins with a discussion of some of our ancient heroes and the Hero’s Journey and asks students to discuss the various traits of those heroes-of-old. They are to list and think about the hero’s traits and then compare to the heroes of today. Harry Potter often comes up because of the obvious journey he takes, and the magical powers he has been gifted with. My students don’t see a whole lot of differences, but those are fictional heroes. They have a really hard time moving to real-life heroes.

Of course, I can point out all the obvious ones, the ones we see on the news and in various forms of media. But what about the ones we meet in our everyday lives? That friend who knows you so well, that you get a call or text from them asking how you’re doing when you thought you were hiding whatever was hurting your heart and soul.

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That neighbor who shows up on your doorstep with a pot of soup because you haven’t made your daily trek to corner and back for several days. That little girl who says, “It’s okay Mommy. It wasn’t your fault and we’ll be okay even though we’ll miss him terribly.”

I’m sure all of you can think of even more of these heroes who show up in those tiny everyday moments in life when we’re sure nothing will ever be okay again. I’d love to hear them.