What do I think a hero is?
Well, I would say that my current view about a real hero doesn’t exactly fit with the common idea about heroes. Most people tend to imagine a hero as someone who fights bravely against “baddies” to protect defenceless “goodies”, usually in a violent way, or the one who saves human lives in catastrophic situations (floods, fires, earthquakes…etc.) and I used to think so in other time.
However, I’ve had to go to different hospitals lately, accompanying a close relative who suffers from lung cancer, so I’ve met lots of oncological patients (of all sorts and conditions: old people, young people, children…) struggling hard against this terrible illness.
I’ve realized that all around this kind of “microcosm” there are many people –doctors, nurses, scientists, hospital workers and above all relatives and altruist carers- working from dawn to dusk saving no efforts, very often in an anonymous way, in order to make patients’ treatments and lives easier.
I’ve frequently been a witness to the expression of good feelings in all these people’s faces and their determination to help those, unfortunately, more and more deteriorated patients in their exhausting fight to defeat the illness as well as, how they often smile at them pretending things go really well in spite of knowing the real seriousness of their medical situation.
So, I always think that what an altruistic generous example they give us, they will never be rewarded enough for it and, finally, I reached the conclusion that, actually, they are the real the authentic heroes for me.
