When I hear the word hero I think superman, tights, evil villains and lots of action. Ever since I turned about 4 I was introduced to the whole good guy bad guy scheme. As a kid you were taught that people who do good things are hero’s or should be viewed as role models. Then when you get to the middle school age, about 11 you realize that wearing a cape and underwear outside of your pants doesn’t make you heroic. It’s about who you are and history, and the impact you’ve made and how you have devoted and risked your life for the better of the people. It’s more about how big of an impact can you make, and can you be the first to do the unthinkable. I’m sure the majority of Americans can say people like Martin Luther king and Rosa parks would be considered heroes along with Amelia Earhart and or even Michael Jordan. Now that I’m 17 and a junior in high school my whole opinion of who a hero can be has changed.
Unlike some, my hero is much closer to home. She wakes me up everyone morning, She takes me back and forth to school, sports, and anywhere I want to go. She supports me in anything I want to do and pushes me all the time to be the best I can be and nothing less. My hero is probably the most important person there is in my life. Without her I would be less of a person than I am today. She has been there for me from the best moments in my life to the very worst. She goes out of her way to love me and shows me she cares, and over the years she has taught me so much that’s going to help me be the best woman I can be. I would be no one without my mom.
In so many ways she’s a hero to me. From what she has come from to her life now, is just amazing. I look up to her for almost everything she has done. My mom is someone who has a passion for life, and helping others. She has taught me independence, strength, kindness, care, respect and most of all unconditional love. Growing up my mom had a tough life… and when I say tough I don’t mean her mom made her go to bed early for watching TV late, or her dad didn’t buy her that blue sweater she always wanted. I mean tough as in… she was lucky if she had electricity for a month; in fact she was grateful if she had a home. As a little girl she had no choice but to only depend on herself. She had always put others before her. Growing up most of her life she took care of her 6 brothers and sisters, and spent all of her high school years working 2 jobs and an exhausting 35 hours a week, but not to satisfy her but only to support her family. At the worst of times she had to eat nothing but raw hot dogs for 2 months straight, because her family couldn’t afford food. Her life was unthinkable and I love her every day for how she got herself out of the mess. She never let lack of money, or people telling her she couldn’t do it get on her way. Unlike the rest of her family she was smart, and she wanted to make a life for herself. She bit her bottom lip and perceived through the tough times never looking back. She went to school and was the first to graduate college in her entire family. But she didn’t stop there; she got her bachelors degree in education, and recently received her master’s. My mom is my true ultimate drive to succeed.
Unfortunately she isn’t even close to credited for the amount of things she does. She’s not only there for me, but my friend as well. If they needed someone to talk to, or a place to spend the night, my mom’s the first one to step up. If any of my friends have trouble with anything at all, my mom is willing to do as much as she can. Let alone friends my mom is always helping complete strangers, she’s offered several people money when they have asked, she regularly donates clothes and toys to Good Will. Once she even pulled over to the side walk one day while it was pouring rain, and offered the man without a jacket an umbrella, to shield him. There’s not a moment in my life where I can think my mom put someone else before herself. And I admire her for that. She couldn’t be a stronger, more generous, loving individual.
I hope this has reminded you of someone in your life who has been there for you, or has gone to the end of the earth to make you or your family happy. Heroes can be people who are made up characters in comic books, or real life people who have changed the world. They can be alive, dead, black white yellow, or even purple, the possibilities are endless. But always remember to be the best you can be, you never know if someone is looking at you and saying… “That’s my hero”.