The Quiet Hero

Who is a hero? I think we all have definitions of who they are. Most of us can readily identify a hero as someone on the battlefield who saves the lives of his comrades by paying the ultimate price. To some, a hero may be a superstar in a sport like basketball or football. Or someone who saves a life such as a fireman or a doctor. Yes, all of these people are heroes in their own ways. But I think that too often we have heroes right in our vicinity and don’t even realize it.

One of my heroes is my mom. For years, she’s known that she’s needed to have knee replacement surgery. You see, she likes to be active. To keep that quality of life that she so desires, she finally decided to go ahead and have one of her knees replaced.

The surgery went well. But as her doctor said, the surgery was the easy part. The rehab to get the knee functioning again has been the hard part. She’s had a lot of pain, as is expected. A whole lot. A lot more than most people can imagine. She’s also had to spend lots of time with a device called a passive motion device, which meant many hours lying on her back and letting the machine do its work. She’s endured physical therapy, which as many of your physical therapy veterans may know, is no walk in the park. Now it’s starting to pay off. She can see the light of the tunnel because the pain is finally beginning to diminish, and little glimmers of how her knee will be when it is completely healed are beginning to show.

I’m proud of her. She’s a quiet hero. She knew what she wanted, and she knew it would be tough. But she’s not given up. She’s stayed on course with her therapy, and soon, her life will be better.

So look around you. Who are the quiet heroes in your midst? The ones who are enduring under tough circumstances? The ones who are facing incredible odds? Maybe it’s the neighbor who’s the single mom with two small children. Or someone you know who’s battling cancer. Or maybe it’s someone who’s finally beat an addiction. Whoever they are, like the heroes who are obvious, they won’t brag about their valor. Instead, they’ll live their lives as they are–the quiet heroes.

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