Junior One English Vocabulary

1 Who's a hero these days?  In an era of heightened heroism, the word hero has become more common.  We use hero to describe bothvictims and survivors of all kinds of difficulties andtragedies.  Who are the heroes among us?

2 In the days subsequentto a mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona, many described 20-yearold political associate Daniel Hernandez as a hero. During the horrible shooting, he courageously ran through the danger to save the life of one of the victims, his boss and friend, congresswomanGabrielle Giffords.  Daniel held her head up so she could breathe and applied pressure to her wounds. He spoke tender words ofsympathy, telling her that he would find her husband and her parents and that everything would be fine. And he never left her side, staying beside her in the ambulance all the way to the hospital.

3 Another hero from the mass shooting in Tucson was Dory Stoddard.  Dory gave his life for his wife, Mavy.  Dory and his wife had been friends since childhood and when Dory heard shots ring out he immediately fell on top of his wife to shield her from the hail of bullets.  At the memorial service, thepriest said: "Dory didn't die a hero; he lived a hero." Long known for hisremarkable spirit and love of humanity, Dory Stoddard died as he had always lived, assisting others.

4 These are civilianheroes, who acted instinctively with courage and grace when caught up in extraordinarycircumstances.

5 But what about firstresponders , whose job is, in the words of the widowof a fallen police officer, to "rush toward danger"?

6 In Toronto, Canada, downtown life stopped when more than 11,000 police and other emergency responders marched solemnly through the streets to honorSergeant Ryan Russell, a 35-year-old "good man and good cop", who believed deeply in his commitmentto protect and serve.  Sgt. Russell moved quickly to protect others from harm. He tried to stop a drunk driver in a stolen snowplow with only his police automobile and his goodwill to help others. Sadly, Sgt. Russell was unable to stop the drunk driver and was killed in the effort.

7 It used to be that the word hero was reserved for those who performed acts of distinct courage beyond the call of duty.  A soldier who runs through gunfire to rescue othermilitary personnel is seen as a hero.  So are larger-than-life leaders such as Nelson Mandela, who emerged after 27 years ofjail, confined in a solitarychamber.  He made the choice not to be bitter, and worked hard as South Africa's first black president to establishharmony and helped society reconcile itsconflicted past.

8 But today, our heroes are average men and women, "everyday heroes" to whom we can relate, people like us.

9 However, while many people honor Sgt. Russell, some people raise this question when they try to make sense of a tragedy like Sgt. Russell's: "Some first responders do not succeed in helping others and they get injured or die in their efforts. Do these people become heroes because of what happens to them as they try to help others — instead of what they actually make happen?"

10 I asked road safetyadvocate Eleanor McMahon whether she thought Sgt. Russell was a hero.  Ms. McMahon's late husband, a police officer, was killed by a drunk truck driver in a 2006 off-duty bicycling accident. Through grief and rage, Ms. McMahon founded Share the Road, a cyclingassociation, and worked tirelessly until the government established "Greg's Law", legislationthat gave authority to police to immediately seize the automobiles of drunk drivers caught on the road.

11 Ms. McMahon replied that she thought Sgt. Russell was indeed a hero.  "Just imagine, in the middle of an intensesnowstorm this policeman thinks: I've got to stop this snowplow before it hurts others."  Ms. McMahon summed up why she considered many police officers to be heroes: "It's natural to be afraid of danger. It's natural for that fear to cause most people to rush toward safety and away from danger. Heroes do just the opposite. They rush toward danger to help those in need."

12 We count on first responders to rush toward danger, especially when itinvolves us or those we love.  We expect nothing less.  So when one of them dies doing that, we should recognize the heroic action even though we may doubt our own capacity to be heroic ourselves.

13 The inspiring stories of heroes help remind us that ordinary people can do extraordinary things, whether it is in thefulfillment of their duties or as part of everyday life. We honor the fireman, the policeman, and the average citizen by recognizing their heroism. Perhaps, even more importantly, we honor them by working to change the circumstances that led to their death.  By honoring them we can be inspired by them.  Will we be heroes when circumstances call on us to act heroically? Hopefully, we will!