Who are your heroes? The word hero may conjure up an image of a superhuman wearing a cape who comes to the rescue of innocents under threat. I have a personal hero list with people that I admire and look up to. None of them wears a cape, but they don’t need a cape to be true heroes. I describe examples of my heroes without giving away their identity.
In the early part of the pandemic, the situation in New York City was dramatic. The city was in lockdown and people were dying at a rate that was so high that refrigerated trucks were used as morgues. My friend’s elderly mother lived alone in the midst of this tragedy. To help her in this crisis my friend decided to go and pick her up and bring her to his home. He flew on a near-empty plane to New York City and took a taxi through the deserted streets of Manhattan. He helped his mother pack and then made the return journey on a near-empty plane with her. My friend made this trip at a time when the Coronavirus caused many deaths, while little was known about effective treatment.
A young woman I know has spent numerous summers alone in the wilderness of the American West to do bird surveys. At sunrise she must be present at assigned coordinates. She needs to hike in the night before and camp, or bushwhack in the pre-dawn darkness. She told me that she sometimes sees eyes glowing in the dark and does not know whether these eyes are from a deer or a mountain lion. She often needs to drive extended distances through the mountains over rugged and deserted dirt roads. She is aware of the risks of the job, and she has prepared herself well to mitigate these risks. She does all this because she follows her passion to experience the beauty-filled solitude of the wilderness.
I have had a wonderful career as a scientist. I worked with incredibly bright people in academia and industry. Colleagues who were very sharp, thought quickly, and who could make connections between seemingly disparate facts. Some of these colleagues not only had a quick mind; they also had a great heart in the sense that they were kind, considerate, and had much empathy. Former student Yuanzhong Fan once remarked to me that “our mind and our heart are only one foot apart, but some people behave as if they are miles apart.” The colleagues that are my heroes had harmonized their mind and their heart. As a result, it was a true privilege to work with them.
The last type of hero I describe are students who overcame hurdles that made them grow beyond themselves. I have worked with students who had a paralyzing self-doubt that they overcame. I had a student in class who paid his way through college by working most nights for Fedex at Denver International Airport in parallel to his studies. I know a student who was the only person who could take care of a psychiatric sibling. I worked with students who carried a traumatic past with them and learned to move beyond the grips of trauma. None of these students boasted about their achievement, they just overcame their challenge, grew, and silently moved on.
These examples describe different types of heroes. Not one of them wears a cape, but they embody the properties of the hero in different ways. Without exception they do so silently without boasting. Having a heroes-list helps me develop a vision of what I seek to aspire to. Those on our hero list are role models, and they help us grow into better versions of ourselves. Do you have a hero list? This not only helps us to appreciate people around us; it also helps us get clarity on our aspirations. And when you become the hero of someone else, you don’t have to start wearing a cape!