I was watching a game show this morning,and they featured Efren Penaflorida, the 2009 CNN Hero of the Year.. He started a "pushcart classroom" in the Philippines to bring education to poor children as an alternative to gang membership. I was also able to watch the CNN awarding and got a chance to hear part of his speech. His words were inspiring. He said "Our planet is filled with heroes, young and old, rich and poor, man, woman of different colors, shapes and sizes. We are one great tapestry,each person has a hidden hero within, you just have to look inside you and search it in your heart, and be the hero to the next one in need."
We live in a time that is hungry for heroes. Our world's need for extraordinary women and men is clear from the headlines in every newspaper: The advance of technology has multiplied our ability to destroy each other with weapons of war; we are facing an environmental crisis with the potential to threaten life as we know it; each day brings new clashes between people of different cultures and beliefs; and there are many places in the world where poverty and misery are getting worse, not better. In times such as these, we long for leaders with a hero's combination of extraordinary abilities and exemplary moral courage.
Unfortunately, such people are hard to find. The idols of popular culture offer little in the way of inspiration, and our era's self-proclaimed Christian leaders have proven as violent, greedy, intolerant and hypocritical as anyone from outside the church. It has reached the point where many who are loudly and visibly associated with Christianity seem disconnected from the teachings of Christ in both what they preach and what they practice. Yet we find inspiration when we focus less on those who misuse Christ's teachings, and more on the people who do simple things to change the lives of those around them.
