I strongly believe that a lot of words and phrases in our modern vocabulary are overused, as well as incorrectly used, and for that reason are weakened by their true meaning. I believe “Awesome” should be saved for God. It drives me nuts when someone says “No Problem”, instead of “you’re welcome.” Frankly when someone says this, it indicates that it could be a problem.
Probably the misused word that frustrates me most is the word “Hero”. As much as I love football I have heard people comment about “Grid Iron Heroes”, for that matter any type of pro athlete designated as a hero, to me is simply an outstanding athlete not a hero.
Most of the movie actors, television actors, pro athletes or other type of perceived heroes only compete or perform as we wish we could. In my mind it is merely a bad case of performance envy when we refer to these outstanding people as heroes. To me a hero is someone who, most times, is faced with a daunting task and acts as I hope I would act in the same situation. Most of these heroes face these tasks quietly, or even reluctantly, but perform them for the benefit of others and not for themselves. I think of the war heroes that risk all to save the lives of his/her fellow soldiers as well as simply to protect those of us back home. One of my favorite heroes is someone that wishes they were still unknown. Todd Beamer and his wife Lisa had a quiet life teaching Sunday school class and raising a family. Todd is one of the brave passengers of United Flight 93 who overtook the high jacked aircraft and ran it into the ground rather than allowing them to carry out their mission of taking out another highly populated target. I often think of the phrase that Todd made famous, “Let’s Roll”. Today this phrase stands for me as an example of how to bravely face challenges we do not want to face.
As we recently remembered the 10th anniversary of the terrible tragedies of 9/11 I give thanks for all who have bravely stood in the gap for those of us that could not. I thank the veterans and civil servants; as well as civilians that make this country great. I pray that as we continue forward we realize how blessed we are to live in this nation. If you get a moment and see someone in uniform that performs their jobs to keep us all safe, please take a moment to merely say thank you.
-Jeff Haggard, VP of Sales