Heroes

Who are your heroes?

I asked that question of a group of friends lately and one of them cited Amy Carmichael, who was an Irish missionary to India and lived from 1867-1951.  She opened an orphanage and rescued many young girls from the fate of being forced to become Hindu temple prostitutes.  She is quoted, "One cannot give without loving, and one cannot love without giving."

Another friend shared that his father is his hero.  His father has stood by as the main supporter of his mom, caring for her throughout her struggle to fight cancer.  It has been over five years.  Recently, that fight has become a losing battle.  At the recent family gathering, his father stayed positive, remarking, "She's just getting there before we are."  This comes home to me today, as a friend of mine was just diagnosed with lymphoma and faces harsh treatment (the kind which brings back bad memories for me).  He is married with a beautiful wife and three young children including a baby.  Those who suffer from cancer are often heroes, but so are the people who are most closely connected to them.

One of my friends shared that Martin Luther King, Jr. was his hero.  He has recently read a multi-volume biography of King as a class assignment.  He remarked that King, though struggling with fear and succumbing to infidelity, though an imperfect hero, still pressed on in his work for justice.  Martin Luther King, Jr., bravely applied a gospel-centered approach to confronting his enemies, I might add, choosing to apply his faith rather than working only through political avenues in his work for social justice.  He chose non-violence in a violent era, which was a dangerous thing to do; yet, he overcame fear and pressed on.

What made me ask the question of my friends is that I am in the midst of reading Bonhoeffer:  Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas.  This New York Times Bestseller is truly a page-turner, as are so many books about the Nazi era.  It is hard to imagine the evil existing in Bonhoeffer's day and the dilemmas he faced.  He stood early on during Hitler's rise to power, opposing discriminatory policies enacted toward the Jews and challenging fellow Christians to hold to the true gospel rather than caving to the "Fuhrer principle".  Though clear-headed about the risk of doing so, he returned to Germany from work abroad and spearheaded an illegal seminary.  Though pacifist by conviction, he ultimately joined in a plot to assassinate Hitler but was captured, imprisoned and ultimately executed less than a month before Germany's surrender.  I have been so taken by Bonhoeffer's strength of character, his integrity and his resolve, that he has become a hero to me.  One of my other heroes is Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch woman of that same era.

Recently, my housemate suggested middle names for my cats so that they could be called their full names whenever they disobey.  I decided to choose positive and heroic middle names for my dear feline companions.  Though they do find frequent opportunities to bend the rules, I prefer to use their new full names as terms of endearment:  Wilberforce Bonhoeffer Dahlman and Aliceanna Corrie ten Boom Dahlman.  They each seemed quite pleased when I informed them of their new names.

Of course, I have other heroes as well.  I went through a long spell of life, feeling too cynical to come up with any heroes.  2010 was a bit hero-challenged, as far as public figures are concerned.  If one looks hard enough, though, there are heroes all around us.  As time tells their stories, I happen to have fallen in love with at least three heroic men:  William Wilberforce, Eric Liddell, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  All of them were men of deeply rooted conviction who stood strong in the midst of tremendous pressures.  They remained faithful to God and to their callings.  Loving these men does seem to challenge my dating life, especially since all three are dead and gone and would be over 100 if they were alive today!  It may not be possible to marry this kind of a guy, so maybe I will just have to emulate them.  As the lion from the Wizard of Oz proclaimed, "Courage!"

(Some have said that I set a high standard man-wise.  I say that I am too often bored on a date.  As an idealist, I do love to live inside the world of ideas and am most impressed by those who have the greatest accomplishments of the heart.  I'm not too good at talking football and would rather spend a quiet Sunday afternoon reading a good biography.)