English: Gandhi during the Salt March, March 1930. Français : Gandhi pendant la Marche du Sel, mars 1930. मराठी: महात्मा गांधी दांडी यात्रेत. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I figured this would be a nice little transition topic from yesterdays as it is STILL on the same subject. 
Back when I was just a wee Middle School-er; one of my teachers had assigned the class with a special essay. The essay was to be about someone who is your Hero. I believe this assignment was given to me by my 4th Grade teacher. At that age, I really didn’t have any Heroes. I had no one I looked up to. I was dealing with depression. I was almost appalled that my teacher was giving this assignment, because it didn’t seem fair and I felt like I was going to be forced to pick someone I really didn’t want to. Eventually that’s exactly what happened sadly because I didn’t get the idea to do this for the essay – until several years later.
For those curious, I finally wound up just picking Dr. Martin Luther King Jr which I have no hard feelings towards and think he was a great man, but not exactly someone I’d call, “My Hero!” either. But he DID do a great deal for the dissolution of segregation to help his people and I admire that about him.
In reality, years later, I realized that who I SHOULD have written the essay on was – myself. Yes; myself. I know that sounds funny, because at that age I was my own worst enemy with the depression weighing me down. For the same token though, I was my ONLY ally because I was trying my hardest to hide and obscure the possibility I was depressed and deal with it on my own.
English: Dr. Martin Luther King giving his “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington in Washington, D.C., on 28 August 1963. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
So how did the villain at the time become the Hero and their own ally in a seemingly one against a thousand odd battle? Willpower, determination or stubbornness. I held on to thoughts of my family, how it might affect them, which I didn’t have many people I considered family then. I thought of my friends. The few I could count on a single hand alone. How I wanted to keep them smiling. Than I needed to focus on finding my fighting spirit. Focused on the things I WANTED to change, sat down, meditated and WILLED some of these changes into place, with the help of positive vocal mantras such as, “I desire to be happy. I will not allow my anger to control me any longer. I am the master of my emotions. -I- control my anger“.
I kept repeating my mantras to myself mentally and vocally occasionally over time, overall all, that initial time I sat down and meditated though, that’s what REALLY changed my hard-wiring. Without a “Pill” to fix the problem as is so commonplace now (there’s a Pill for that! *face-palm*); I alone managed to overcome my Depression almost completely the time I entered High School. Just goes to show, the human MIND, WILL and HEART is strong – if we give it a chance and USE it, instead of squandering our gifts, we can do amazing and incredible things. We often just need to have Faith in ourselves.
My question to my readers for this day’s entry is this, Are YOU your own Hero? If so, why?
If I had maybe a second chance at writing this essay, I know I would have written it either about myself or Gandhi. I have much love and respect for that man and every time I watch documentaries about him, I cry. Though I think an essay about myself might have been just as interesting to. Why? See if I could pull it off in actuality, but – judging by this blog post, probably wouldn’t have worked out so well. I don’t think I’d have reached my word limit. Than again, I might have.
Caravaggio’s Guitar Hero (Photo credit: PIX-JOCKEY)
I hope you enjoyed this little story and insight into my life today and may it have given some of you something to think about as well.
~Love, light, gratitude, blessings and more be yours, Namaste~
Related articles
- Letter to my hero (mayibe.wordpress.com)
- Still need a hero – part 1 (towerofthearchmage.blogspot.com)
- Sharing What We Know about Heroes, Big and Small (kcsmatters.wordpress.com)
- Heroes of Famed Kosciuszko Squadron Need Financial Support from Everyone Who Honors them to Help Heroes Foundation Illuminate their Heroic Story to the World (prweb.com)
- Remembering the Fallen on Memorial Day (gnomestew.com)
- The Plural of “Hero” is “Heroes”, Not “Heros” (todayifoundout.com)
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