The word "Hero" has many connotations. And, real heroes - as opposed to sports legends and movie stars - rarely think of themselves that way. If they do, it's only after their actions have been lauded by people they respect. Even then, it's common for them to acknowledge their heroics by softly saying, "I was just doing my job." They sincerely mean it.
I know some military veterans like that, but today I'm referring to people like the immigrant Mexican workers who take high-risk or physically demeaning jobs to support their families and provide opportunities for their children. My heroes also include single mothers and single dads, who raise their children all alone - and very well.
I worship people who dedicate their lives to medical and technical innovation; people like Jonas Salk, creator of the Salk Polio Vaccine; and Nobel Laureate Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, who is now president of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, who at age eighteen climbed a border fence at Mexicali to become Chairman of Neurosurgery at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida is at the top of that list. So is Dr. Ben Carson, not for his political or religious activism, but for his record of performing medical miracles in the operating room.
Not to exclude Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs (whose biological father was a Syrian immigrant) is on my list of heroes, and so is Kansas' own Jack Kilby (Great Bend), who received a Nobel Prize (1980) for creating the first integrated circuit. Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, and all those others with just the right stuff are on my list, too.
Many of you are on my list-just so you know.
And of course, my heroes have always had PATIENCE, DISCIPLINE, and CONFIDENCE in the FUTURE!
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