Imitating Heroes

[More on Work - I]

I love a good hero story. Not super-heroes, but heroes that lived, walked, got holes in their socks and head colds every so often. Stories about Gandhi or MLK, for example, are deeply inspiring.

But there’s a big problem with hero stories. Beyond inspiration, they encourage a type of imitation. Figures from history that had high ideals and deep convictions are not bad to imitate, but their’s a problem that ought to be named: If you copy their life, when will you live yours?

Their ideals may be similar to yours.
Their dreams and convictions might align with yours.
Their lament and sorrow about the world may be as heavy as yours.

But they didn’t grow up in the suburbs of Chicago with seven siblings or on that farm in Wisconsin with two milk cows at the end of Cottonwood Drive. Their life is not yours; your life is not theirs.

And the way your life and your deep convictions commingle . . . there, in the mixture, is your unique work, unique perspective, unique craft.

Be inspired by heroes, but be vigilant in listening to the hero-in-the-making that wears your shoes.