I sit
at the window. I stare
down at the buildings, cars, the few and far between trees.
Somewhere
in the heart of the city, a siren rings out, alerting everyone in the
neighborhood. I think
about what it would be like to be a policeman, saving lives every day,
risking his well-being for somebody he doesn't even know; catching
crooks for heinous crimes. Uh-oh, better start writing my essay for
homework, it's getting late.
Smoke
rises from the roof of a nearby building. Oh man! It's on fire! The
red fire truck pulls up real fast with flashing lights on every square
inch. Long hoses and
ladders everywhere. The
fire fights back as the firefighters fight.
No one seems too keen on giving up.
They keep on spraying and dumping water.
The fire finally loses its battle and the firefighters are gone
in a flash to put out some other fire in some other neighborhood. They
also, like policemen rescue people they don't know, not to mention
their relentless efforts.
Who
am I going to write about? Policemen...
firefighters… or may be about a different kind. A different kind? Now
let me think...Hercules? Achilles?
Someone with legendary strength and endowed with divine
capabilities? Maybe
Gandhi who stood up against the British with his persuasive power?
Or someone like Shackleton whose optimism and perseverance made
him a hero? Or someone
different, may be a regular person, a little kid may be, who is not
famous? Just a random person from just about anywhere!
How
about the nine year old kid whose mom died fighting cancer, now he
fights nightmares every single night and puts up a bright face for his
dad in the morning? Or
may be the girl I saw in a dusty Indian railway station…. not much
older than me, with a baby straddling on her arms, singing some
plaintive tune begging for some spare change and little kindness?
How about the first grader I saw couple of years back in my
school bus? He was standing up to that bully (a fifth grader!) while
everybody was looking the other way.
Or the teenager who said no to drugs to the coolest group in
the school and did not bow down to the peer pressure?
Or, how about my grandmother who lives two oceans and three
continents away who struggles with her loneliness everyday after my
grandfather died?
She
still makes two cups of tea in the morning and sips hers while the
other cup sits there idly, and she smiles her best smile when I ask
her how she is doing!
The options are
countless...when I look around I find heroes in the most unlikely
places, I find that little part of everyone, constantly working
wonders and making the world a better place for us.
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