Considering our recent articles this week, I think it’s safe to say that we can officially call it “Hero Week” or “The week of Heroes”. With Gerald Ford, Wesley Autrey, and the two New York men. So naturally I fell back and reminisced on one of my favorite movies to watch. HERO, or “Accidental Hero”, starring Dustin Hoffman.

Basically Dustin Hoffman’s character (Bernie Laplante) saves passengers from a burning plane, including the character of Geena Davis. Andy Garcia’s character steps in and gets all the credit. But by the end of the movie, Andy Garcia’s character is filled with guilt, but Dustin Hoffman, having lived a fruitless life thus far, does a very noble deed and continues to never tell the public of his heroism.

Of course, that’s a pretty simplistic summary, and there’s a lot more to the story than that, but I think the lesson in this movie is that we can all be heroes, no matter what we are in life. And that a selfless act needs no reward at all, but the act itself is reward enough. I know, I know, you’re probably thinking… “not in this world”.

But, when you see that even a guy, who’s down on his luck, not really the ideal person in any sense, can muster up courage to save the lives of other individuals… you realize that a hero, doesn’t have to come in a red cape, that it can be a blue collar construction worker like Wesley Autrey, it can be a Michigan man with no ambition except to help a nation….

Oftentimes, history will choose the moment, and whether you like it or not, it may choose you as the man of the hour. It’s your choice to embrace that hour.

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