Blue Ribbons and a gravel locket.

Run around frantically with your hands up in the air.
Feel the breeze blowing like a light summer wind.
Theres a park up the street about a half a mile.
Behind an elementary school
Where a young girl was pushing a stroller.
On the way to the store.
The different hughes of green soaked in from all the tall trees surrounding.
She looked around and everything was gone.
Where were the swings? Where they used to sit?
Where were the wood chips they used to grasp?
Where was the laughter in the distance?
It was all soaked into the gravel now
Covered by parking spaces.
A changed place that left blue ribbons
A time machine never to return to
Memories locked away
Into a Gravel heart formed by rocks
In the ground.
The blue sky would never forget
The different hughes of green.
The breeze still blew as minutes went bye.
Have you ever wondered what its like to be a cloud?
As you look up and envy its weightlessness?
Only to get up and not even remember you asked that
A few seconds that turned into years later?
Still looking through the same dark glasses?
Remember the girl who accidently swallowed a bug and ate it's legs.
Or she thought!
That lived on hillside lane.
For a second she laughed as she kept passing by.

RE: Every Day Heroes

My favorite definition of hero is “one who shows great courage” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hero). To me, a hero doesn’t think twice about doing random acts of courage. On top of it all, they may not even think of themselves as heroes. 

Each person’s path to the title of “hero” is different, as unique, beautiful, and fierce as each person. The journey doesn’t end at “hero”; “hero” is just as much a journey as it is a destination. It’s a journey of growth, change, testing limits, and courage. 

Honestly, the best hero stories aren’t always the ones they show on the news. I am not saying they aren’t any less a hero as the next person. I prefer the ones who are just as selfless and compassionate as they are courageous. I think they can be way more inspiring, anyways. 

Before I go any further, I want to mention my favorite definition of courage. I keep using the word “courage” here. I have no idea where I found this definition; however, as soon as I found it, I fell in love with it. Courage means having strength in the face of fear. Quite frankly, I think that definition is best suited for a hero over any other definition. 

My favorite stories of hero’s are the ones about people who save lives every day (EMTs, cops, first responders in general, nurses, doctors), people who risk their lives without a second thought (cops, firefighters, military personnel, people who rescue others in dangerous and life threatening situations), people in general who go above and beyond (teachers, social workers, counselors, and therapists). Because, more often than not, it is their calling to do what they do. It’s no small thing to give your life to a career or moment in a selfless act like that. 

My hero’s are the people who speak up for others. Whether they speak up about mental health, political or social issues they are against, for people who cannot speak up for themselves, it doesn’t matter. Because they are speaking up for their reasons and are courageous enough to keep using their voice until something changes. 

My hero’s are the people who risk their lives every day in a career they are called to do. It takes someone with a superhuman - Herculean, even - amount of courage to not even think twice to save others before even thinking about the risk to their own life. 

My heroes are the people who save lives, the people who hold hands of people who are dying, who are there as support to the families of the dying or whose lives are being saved. Without them, there would be a lot of lost people, a higher mortality rate in so many things. Without them, we may not have the chance to hug loved ones again. 

My heroes are the people who do random acts of courage every day. Because, without them, my faith in humanity would forever be gone. Without them, we wouldn’t have people who are selfless and compassionate. 

To all the heroes out there, I say THANK YOU! Thank you for everything you do every day. You are miracle workers. You are compassionate. You are the forgottten people in the midst of disaster or turmoil. You are the people who don’t stop making the world a better place. Believe me... you are remembered, loved, and much appreciated to and by many people.