Heroes among us

BY PAUL WOOD
President/CEO, Georgia Electric Membership Corporation

I was channel surfing the other day when I happened upon a CNN special called “Heroes.” Anderson Cooper was paying tribute to individuals from around the globe whose selfless acts of kindness had touched the lives of people near them. All had offered assistance expecting nothing in return except the wonderful, blessed feeling of knowing he or she had helped someone in need.

At a time when the pursuit of immediate self-gratification seems the norm, this program sought to demonstrate the opposite.

As I watched, I realized just how important family and community are to each of us.

There was the young man from Savannah who, with his own money and on his own time, made artificial limbs for those who had lost theirs or perhaps were born without them. His greatest thrill was in fitting an elderly man in Mexico with new legs, enabling the man to walk for the first time in his 78 years.

Cooper also profiled the life of an avid runner whose daily routine took her past a homeless shelter. On impulse one morning, she darted inside the shelter and asked, “Who wants to run with me?” A few took her up on the invitation, and the next day, a few more joined. Running shoes were soon provided, and the number of runners grew. Some residents of the shelter credited this newfound community with helping them to stop using drugs and find a job. It happened because one woman cared enough to share her passion for running.

In another vignette, a group of Cambodian children, some no more than 3 to 5 years old, were seen rummaging through garbage dumps in search of discarded food. A local woman, observing the children, decided to build a school on the site of one garbage dump. Today that school teaches 600 children the skills they need to succeed in a wide range of professions.

I congratulate CNN for recognizing the work of true heroes among us. But my hat is also off to those in Georgia who perform their own acts of heroism every day with no thought of reward or recognition of any kind.

I recently learned about a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of one of our major universities, a young lady in her early 20s with a chemistry degree in hand, ready to enter the corporate world. She put it all aside to join AmeriCorps and spend a couple of years building houses for people unable to purchase homes of their own. She is “driving nails,” she says, to create an environment in which someone else will have a chance to experience the success she has enjoyed.

I know there is a bit of these everyday “heroes” in all of us. The challenge is to cease our own pursuits long enough to let the “hero” emerge. Most of us have the capacity to reach out and help others—and the opportunity, if we would but recognize it.