Hero

I attended a Diversity and Equalities Forum Weekend recently and at the end of the saturday session the homework we were given was to think about who our hero was.
It was really thought provoking and I mulled it over in my head most of the evening. I asked a few people at dinner who they would choose as heroes. Some of them hadn't been awake when the homework was set and promptly got excited or silent or both depending on how much wine they were drinking (I only had ONE large glass so still knew where we were and what day it was!) The lady sitting opposite me I shall call her Babette (only because I don't know what her real name is and she needs a silly name) told me her hero was.....MARGRET THATCHER.
If you love the afore mentioned read no more because I do not!
Babette said she admred her so much., that she was wonderful, that she stood up to people but what she most liked her for was the immortal words that came from the great Thatchers lips-
" This Lady is not for turning"
I am still stunned. Like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car I sat in silence with my mouth open. Taking into account we were at a UNION function and that a Conservative leader does bugger all for unions in general I was impressed by her intention to actually SAY SO OUT LOUD!
Well me being me, I started with pointing out that I admired Mrs Thatcher for be so hard and never backing down which is unusual for a woman I abolutely detested her politics.
Babette thought she led the country well through a war.....which shall remain nameless.
I pointed out that I held her and her government responsible for the deaths of so many because they had cut back on funds for patrol ships.....
Of course I said far more but it was a bot like a Beatle and a Stones fan or David Cassidy and The Osmonds batling it out. I felt like I was RED and she was a pretty shade of pink.
It's so weird how some of us see the world through rose coloured glasses and make excuses for the nasty bits.
ANYWAY...during the night which was actually 48hrs long or felt like that 'cause I couldn't sleep
I got up and wrote the following-

Thinking about who my hero would be i realise that it is not any one man or woman. There came a time in my life when I became aware that all was not right with the world.
I learned from Jean Jacques Rousseau that 'man is born free yet everywhere he is in chains'
I learned from maya Angelou that it is possible to be gracious and forgiving and tolerant in the face of adversity and great hardship.
And I learned from an old friend Dennis Birch who died a few years ago a great piece of advice when he told me-
'I keep holding out the hand of friendship and it's up to the person if they want to take it'
Who would have thought that in my lifetime I would see the Berlin wall come down.the Twin Towers raised to the ground and the self sacrificing act of the rescue workers AND a black President in The Whitehouse in one of the more prejudiced countries in the world.
So my heroes are the ordinary men and women who become EXTRA ordinary, bringing about changes and working tirelessly for the future, to change the things that are wrong.

After I read that out I was amazed to receive a round of applause. I guess sometimes whats in our hearts is also in other peoples too.
So the tutor carried on around the room asking for each persons hero.
We had lots of the obvious heroes-Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandelo, Dads, Grandparents, Banana Man. Babette bottled out and substituted Thatcher for Martin Luther King! and some people told us about their heroes that were not famous globally, only in the countries they lived. That made me think!
So who is your hero?