Celebrity or Hero?

I won't share his name, not only because he would be embarrassed but because you wouldn't know it. I recently ran into an old friend. It was great to see a warm smile of friendship on his worn face. I wanted to tell you a little about him but was wondering if you would listen. If I name dropped a celebrity name you may have taken notice. But why would we? For some reason the star of some meaningless TV show, or the voice on a recording or long-gone victories on the athletic field grabs our attention. We take note, we stop and look and listen. We tend to overlook real character while being captivated by the emptiness of make believe fame. Instead, we see a well-known face that was once a person we all thought we "knew." We don't think much of the addictions, the failed relationships and the layers of self-centeredness, we only see the face that once beamed from so many autographed 8x10 glossies.

No, my friend is no celebrity, he has simply kept his marriage vows for 40 years, took his kids to Sunday School, went to work and paid his bills and above all loved his God. He is not a household name but he is a hero. Not for what he did that was noticed, but what he did wanting no notice.

I prefer heroes to celebrities.