Everyday Heroes…

“All the darkness of the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” St. Francis

This past weekend we sat in shock upon hearing of the senseless acts of terrorism that had occurred in France. Paris, the city of joie de vivre, had been turned into a scene of chaos with a death toll of over 130 people and many others wounded physically and emotionally. The news of our French brothers and sisters halfway across the world left some of us feeling angry, depressed, defeated, and powerless.

Mister Rogers, an icon of children’s television, once shared what his own mother told him as a child when faced with times of crisis, “Look for the helpers”. In Paris the “helpers” were abundant…the brave first responders, the French citizens who opened their homes to provide refuge to those fleeing…the taxi cab drivers who turned off their meters to transport people to safety…the dozens upon dozens of people who lined up at a local hospital the next day to donate blood…the too numerous to count people who began praying for the victims, their loved ones and French leaders…the hundreds upon hundreds of people who attended candlelight vigils and laid flowers at the attack sites.

These helpers assist us to regain the conviction that there is good in the world and good within man. These helpers, who reached out without hesitation to those in need…they are our Everyday Heroes! For it is not the crisis that creates a hero, but it is during the crisis that the hero within is revealed. Ordinary men and women, just like you and I, becoming everyday heroes remind us that indeed all the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle. And the combined light of everyday heroes becomes the force of compassion that dispels the darkness of hardened hearts.