Introduction

Humble Heroes is really my tribute to the many awesome kids, parents, grandparents, celebrities and even pets in your life and mine that have shown us an extra dimension in living. So much news is bad news that tries to drag us down and elevate our fear response. Here’s the chance to turn the tables and celebrate good stuff.

Maybe you have someone in your life like my Aunty Barb – just a wonderful role-model in handling hard times, never preachy, just had that extra dimension. No matter what went wrong, Aunty Barb would find a good side to it, never panicked, it was all God’s will.

Here’s one example I remember well. In her later years when Barbara wasn’t as nimble or capable as she was in her earlier school librarian days, she decided to go back to England to see her brothers and sisters. As part of that exercise it meant catching a train from London to York with a couple of her brothers. During the trip Aunty Barb excused herself as she had to “go through”, her quaintly polite way of saying she needed to go to the toilet. After 55 minutes “going through” her brothers became concerned so they called on the guard to go and check on her. At first the guard couldn’t get the door open despite Aunty Barb’s faltering invitation to enter, but with mechanical help he managed to prise the door open. There was Aunty Barb sitting on the floor next to the toilet – she had fallen, passed out, woke up to find herself in this odd predicament but then relaxed knowing that God would send some nice person to help her out! No matter what the change, deterioration, frustration or loss of capacity in her life it was just taken in Aunty Barb’s stride on her way to Heaven!

I haven’t found change that easy to handle and I don’t have Aunty Barb’s blind faith but I’ve loved life and loved the many cases and kids I’ve met - I’ve honestly drawn inspiration from them. If they can do it, so can I! These stories are my attempt to pay homage and respect to ordinary battlers achieving awesome outcomes with an extra dimension.

The stories are not all serious – laughter is an important tool in mental health and many of my memories are about characters that just make me giggle when I think of them. Maybe you have a humble hero in your life who you’d like to acknowledge and celebrate. Well here’s your chance to submit stories. Look for the Submit your story tab above and share your story about your humble hero.

It’s my hope that together we can share heaps of humble heroes and that they can be an inspiration for each other. What a legacy that would be!