We spend our lives attempting to make the most of ourselves and the people around us. We wear many hats, play many roles in life. We are sons and daughters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, grandparents.friends, coworkers. neighbors. We give much of ourselves to others while also attempting to fulfill what we believe to be our own destinies. We attempt to use the talents that we have to make the world a better place but often we mostly live from day to day simply hoping to overcome the challenges that stress our best laid plans. Even the most optimistic and happy souls around us falter in their resolve from time to time. Simply surviving each day can become brutish. We have to learn how to take the bitter with the sweet and keep pushing on with the dawn of each new day. 

I have lived long enough to have observed the imbalance of opportunities for the people of the world and the amazing courage and resilience of some who are beset by more difficulties than many of us will ever endure. The courage of heroes among us is often unnoticed or undervalued. Their stories are usually untold. Their lives quietly blend into history without fanfare. 

If you follow my blog you may be familiar with the heroes’ journeys of my family members and friends who have inspired me to push forward even when my energy and optimism are flagging. They taught me to navigate the good days and those that are really bad. They showed me how to love and how to determine what is ultimately the most important aspect of walking on this earth for my allotted time. They taught me that while we all need money, wealth does not hold the key to happiness. The best of the people who have most impressed me lay in their deeds, how they treated the people that they encountered. 

I have yet to meet a perfect person but some have come very close. Sometimes it was in their most daunting hours that I realized the extent of their courage. When they seemed to lose all faith something incredible stirred within their souls to spur them forward inch by inch, step by step. They overcame illnesses, failures, losses, addictions to emerge gloriously determined to defeat whatever kind of suffering had temporarily overcome them. I have felt humbled with admiration for them and have also seen how it is often a tiny army of people who stand by with us as we each fight the demons that plague us. What they all seem to share is compassion for their fellow humans that is so deep that sometimes it threatens to derail them with great sorrow. They flounder for a time and then rise again like the phoenix. 

Even now as I write this blog I think of my good fortune in knowing them or just knowing about them. Recently I spoke with a young woman who is a recent immigrant to our country. Hers has been a difficult journey and yet she manages to focus on her good fortune more than the battles that she still has to fight just to be accepted and understood. She ignores the prejudices of people who don’t bother to take the time to realize how remarkable and good she actually is. She plants a smile on her face and just keeps moving forward.

My thoughts wander to a work colleague and friend who is beset with multiple health issues that seem almost unfair given her nine year devotion to her rather young husband who developed dementia far earlier than is usual. She gave every ounce of love that she had to help him when his mind slowly deteriorated. Only recently had she found a kind of calm once again in her life. Her respite from suffering seemed so short and her current situation seems so unfair but she is showing those of us who know her just how strong and courageous she is. 

I find daily inspiration in people who are unafraid to love and laugh even as they seem to navigate through figurative and actual landmines. They remind me daily that in spite of the selfishness and evil that dominates the news, the vast majority of the unnamed and unknown people of the world are good. 

I enjoy watching documentaries. My streaming accounts know my habits well and often recommend series that might interest me. Among them was a short feature called The Five Who Came Back which chronicled the experiences of five famous film directors who agreed to serve in the armed forces during World War II. Their jobs were to create films that would help the American people understand what was happening in Europe and the Pacific during that difficult time. They brought their brilliance and talent to bear in films that demonstrated both the horrors and humanity of war. All five men were inescapably changed by what they saw. They were humbled by the goodness of the people that they encountered, nameless souls who might otherwise have been invisible to them. One of them created a classic movie about just such a character in It’s a Wonderful Life.”

George Bailey is the everyman, the hero who lives among us without much notice. We may not pay particular attention to people like George but we would no doubt miss them if they never lived. It’s the guy across the street who always helps everyone in the neighborhood who is most impactful in our lives. It’s the mother who gave us more opportunities than she ever had just by going to work everyday, sometimes to a job that she did not particularly like, who has influenced us the most. It is in the George Baileys around us that we see what is most important in life. 

In a year of political noise and wars in many parts of the globe it is easy to lose faith in our fellow humans, to feel as though the world is going to rot. If we take a deep breath and look around we will see the everyday heroes toiling dutifully among us. They may be mowing our lawns or teaching our children. They may care for us when we are sick or encourage us when we are feeling down. They may be swimming across a river to give their families a better shot at living or ministering to the the sick and dying in places torn apart by war. Mostly we may never see them, but we should remember that they are always around us trying to create a wonderful life for themselves and for us.