A Tribute to the Everyday Heroes
by Ashlie Kauffman
A
hero. According to Random House
Webster’s College Dictionary, it is a man of distinguished courage or ability,
admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. Close, but not exactly the picture I had in mind. To me, a hero is a person, man or woman,
girl or boy, who, in some way, makes something or somebody better. There are heroes everywhere you look, but to
often they go unnoticed. Here are a
few, just off the top of my head, that have stood out to me in the past.
I admire
Alyssa Fernall. She is in my English
class, so I see her most everyday, and most everyday I am amazed at her heroic
ways. There is no one below her. She has always had a smile for every person,
and a special way of making that smile mean a lot. She also has the courage of a person twice her age. Its hard to understand, but sometimes
getting in front of a class of peers and reading something as personal as
Sunsets can be the hardest thing in the world.
Alyssa, I admire you.
I admire
Kelly Kauffman. She is my mother, and a
wonderful mother at that. At
thirty-five years old, she has seen more tragedy in her life than anyone ever
should. When she was thirty-three, her
husband of twelve years had an aneurysm, and unexpectedly died. They had four children at home, me being one
of them. She could have crawled into
bed and never had to face the world again.
If she had no one would have blamed her. But she didn’t. She was
brave, strong, encouraging, inspirational.
She was a mom. It is true that
our father has never been forgotten, but we have been able to move on with our
lives and be happy in the new ones we live.
And that is mostly because of the great mom we have. Mommy, I admire you.
I admire
the students of Westford Academy. Yes,
all you out there, I am in debt to you.
I was new to the school, new the town, new to the state. I knew nobody, had nothing. Yet from the very first day here I have
never felt alone. There was always one
of you to help me out, introduce yourself, calm my fears, be my friend. When I needed you the most you were
there. Some of you have not been as
friendly as others, but each and every one of you are part of this school. This school made me feel welcome. Westford Academy, I admire you.
I admire
Ashlie Kauffman. She is around a lot,
and I don’t always understand her, but thats all right. She is a just a normal girl, who crys and
laughs, talks and yells, sleeps and eats, and goes to school. She has friends, and then she has people who
don’t like her every much. She has a
family and a nice house on Danley Drive.
She has seen a lot of stuff in her life, but thats not what matters to
her. She has a sometimes unpleasant
past, but she doesn’t live in it. She
just lives from day to day, laughing, crying, sleeping, eating and going to
school. And she survives it all. That in itself is a great feat.
I admire lots of people and lots of things. There are tons of heroes out there, you just have to know what a hero is to find them. A lot of you don’t even realize the impact that you make on the people in your life. I want to leave you with this thought. If the simple, kind people in life are remembered and classified as heroes, how are you everyday meanies sticking in peoples minds?