What Heroism Looks Like

Thanks to movies, TV, and pop culture in general, we have this vague notion of "hero" that, funnily enough, requires little heroism and more being "larger than life". (How else do you explain our lionizing of such inconsequential men?)

But heroism is not always larger than life, not always won on the battlefields one sees on CNN or ANC. Heroism begins in the heart, and manifests itself even in the smallest of places. My case in point is this story, about a couple in Texas who realize that their firstborn son had a rare genetic disorder called Trisomy 13. In the US, as in any industrialized Western country, the most common option for any unborn child born with genetic disorders is instant termination. But this couple, in true heroic fashion, was having none of it.

"Thomas was a miracle from the moment he was conceived," she told the congregation. "We are better because Thomas existed."

"The only thing he will know of this world is love."

I am reminded of all of those babies one sees in the local news channels. You know, the ones with enlarged heads or other birth defects, that have their mothers on screen asking for help. One tends to see them as victims of a cruel fate, but one must also realize the element of human will here. These parents are not just victims. They are also heroes. In a world that looks upon their children as "incompatible with life" (just ask the sponsors of that birth control bill), they took upon themselves to carry that heavy burden and ensure that all that their children will know of this world, though their lives be short, is love. And love stands at the very core of heroism, be it in the battlefield or in the home. Celebrity and being "larger than life" have nothing to do with it.