“A hero is the one who does what he can. The others do not.” - Romain Rolland
When we hear the word “hero”, most of us can’t help thinking of particular fictional characters that appear on comics and television like Superman and Batman, among others. But talking about real essence here, are there any real life heroes?
I want to share to you my experience wherein I was actually saved by a real man, a real life hero.
His name is Raymond. He is a distant relative of ours. Every time we go on vacation in our province in Negros Oriental, my cousins, my sister and I would always hang out with him. For us, he’s like our older brother. We care for him so much, as he is poor and wasn’t even able to finish high school.
Then it happened.
It was a hot summer weekend. Our clan decided to have a get – together at a river which is located at a remote sitio in our municipality. We chose to go there because the river is crystal clear and the air is cool and fresh.
After taking lunch, my cousins, kuya Raymond and I bathed in the river. We had fun together, until we noticed a humongous rock located near the bank of the river. I did not know that part of the river was deep, so I just “swam” with my cousins. So you know what happened. I have difficulty swimming because I’m a sinker (and, yes, I don’t know how to swim). So at that moment, I was sinking and drowning. Not one of my cousins dared to save me because they are afraid that they will drown with me. At the time when it seems that I’m going to die (because my legs are getting numb and I was almost out of breath) when kuya Raymond came to the scene. He (sort of) grabbed my arm and pulled me out to safety.
Until now, I am truly grateful to him because he risked his life just to save me from drowning. He dared to swim the deep part when not even one of my cousins did. I will not ever forget that time when he saved me. If not for him, maybe you won’t be seeing and reading this blog right now.
I believe that heroes need not be fictional characters. I believe that everyone can be a hero for someone, regardless of their educational attainment and social status. Lending a helping hand or even helping out an old man or woman cross the street can already be considered a heroic deed.
But believe it or not, I’m still waiting for another hero to save me from my personal distress. You see, because of that experience, I have been afraid to swim (or even dip) in deep water, particularly a swimming pool that is five feet above. I can tolerate bathing in a water in which is at most at the level of my shoulders, but not beyond that. I’m still waiting for that hero who will help me overcome this fear of mine.
Being a hero is about the shortest-lived profession on earth. - Will Rogers
No comments:
Post a Comment