Friend! Yes, here would be a beautiful picture of my friend Karen. I assure you she has no problem with me posting this picture because it used to be her profile picture on facebook not too long ago. I also assure you there are more attractive pictures than this, but this face is too awesome not to repost. 

She is telling me that she is writing an awesome recommendation for me, and from the tidbit she gave me I’m sure it will turn out great. Not because I’m an awesome person, but because she has a great sense of humor and fun. This is why Karen is a hero.

While back in grade school she helped me take school a bit more seriously, she now helps me understand that it is okay to make fun of ourselves once in awhile. She has been my friend since 2^nd grade, and since then we have constantly been laughing at life’s splendors and challenges. While a change in attitude can’t solve all our problems, a change in perspective certainly helps. Karen has always put a smile on her face in adversity, and in laughing at our woes we begin to realize how small and unimportant they really are. Through friendly snark and sarcasm, our friendship has showed me that our lives are silly, and our work is fun.

For the world is absurd, no matter how much order we impose on this chaos. The best course of action is just to step forward with the best of intentions and a smile on our faces.

So there you go. Five different heroes, some I know personally, some fictional. Each has affected me in some way with an important lesson. I would not be the person I am without all of you. Aside from the five mentioned here, be sure that I also view the rest of my family, friends, pets, and the Mercer Island Martial Arts as my heroes. Keep being awesome, guys!

-Valerie Lambert

I figured a good place to look for heroes was in history. The problem usually is, though, that on a closer inspection, despite all the good these people have done, often the heroes of history have a dark side. That is not true for Rosa Parks, though. She showed us all a single person, with a single action, can change society for the better. With simple civil disobedience, Rosa parks started a boycott that showed that the simple action of a community can change the world. The civil rights movement had many heroes, far too many forgotten or sacrificed. These people gave their children’s wellbeing and their lives in the hope of a better future, and though I would say every one of them is a hero to me, I feel that Rosa Parks is adequate to stand for all of them. She was an ordinary citizen who was fed up with the injustices of society. Perhaps even more spectacular, she was eventually able to go back to her normal life. She was brave, and I hope that when the time comes, I too can be that brave in the face of injustice. 

Photo from ellabakercenter.org

I figured that as long as I was doing a fictional character, I might as well also get this one out of the way. Batman, the coolest superhero out there, shows us that you don’t need to be born with superpowers to save the world; you just need to inherit a lot of money from your murdered parents. Actually, that’s what Bruce Wayne teaches us. I’m don’t think Bruce Wayne is a hero. Batman is a hero, a spirit of justice in Gotham. Not a spirit of judgment, though; while Batman is a vigilante, he never deals out his own punishments. Batman works to protect the people of Gotham from the evils of the world while incarcerating villains long enough so that the people may judge them. This fact is important, because one man should never be responsible for the fate of a person. Batman is a hero because he shows that one can help others while still being unbiased and fair. He shows that we do not have to sacrifice our morals to pursue justice.

Image from Batman the Animated Series (comicattack.net)

This next entry is somewhat ironic, because Pooh is a great example of everything a Campbellian hero is not. He ignores the call to action that is growing up, forever stuck in the Hundred Acre Woods of our innocence, while the rest of the world moves on. Luckily for me, this is not an English assignment and I can say that Pooh is a hero. I never really liked reading Joseph Campbell anyway.

Currently Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne sits at the edge of my bookshelf, right next to my computer. I admit that this wasn’t my book until I stole it out of Sophie’s empty room earlier this year, but reading it again brought back great memories that I had of the show, which I remember watching frequently. Pooh, like Alex, serves as a testament to the fact while we do have to grow up, our entire future is waiting for us, there will always be some part of our childhood waiting for us to come back home. Just as Christopher Robin returns to the Hundred Acres Woods, filled with the wisdom and worldliness needed to solve Pooh’s problems, Christopher is still ultimately a part of that world. He can still visit his childhood imaginings even though he is growing up. In this way Pooh acts as Christopher Robin’s connection to his childhood, and saves him from losing his innocence forever. Pooh gives me hope that I can step into the future, grown up and unafraid, yet still have a connection to who I once was.

Illustration by Ernest H Shepard

To start my hero blog I would like to honor my little brother, Alex, who has been kind enough to put up with me this past week and housesit. Though we like to act that we can’t stand another, the truth is that next year I will miss hanging out with him at home. One thing that separates Alex from any other family member is our mutual love of video games. He is still at the age where he can waste most his days in front of the television without any school conflicts, so in some ways having him play games beside me as I do work helps me vicariously relive my middle school days when I didn’t have a care for the future. It’s nice, and even though I know that I will soon be responsible for myself, these past couple days have helped me remember how carefree I once was, even just a couple months ago. I sometimes think of movies, books, and games as another chore to complete as quickly as possible, but Alex helps remind me that the fun is in the journey, and sometimes just eating cookies and watching old TV shows on Netflix is a valid use of time. I know I have to grow up, but that doesn’t mean I have to get rid of pastimes which I still hold dear. Alex is one of my heroes because in the face of our hectic lives he still find time to relax and have some carefree fun.

I will refrain from posting other family members as heroes, because I would like some variety in these entries. I choose Alex because he seems the most unexpected hero.

On another note, I understand that blog posts are usually over the course of a couple days, and I have been writing these over the course of the week, but I haven't thought to put them up until now. Sorry for the delay/barrage of blog posts.