The Unsung Heroes

     I recently read a fun book titled The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp. It was about Alfred Kropp (imagine that) who in general is a pretty normal 15 year old. He is average at everything and lives with his uncle until his uncle is killed. The long and the short of the story is that Alfred and his uncle are paid to steal Excalibur, King Arthur's legendary sword without knowing what it really is.  Alfred then joins up with the descendants of the Knights of the Round Table in an effort to get it back from the bad guys before they take over the world.  Throughout the whole book I kept waiting for the author to reveal some sort of secret about Alfred.  This is a pretty standard practice in books and I have come to expect it as a general rule. The mediocre hero suddenly discovers that he is good at the one thing which happens to be the bad guy’s weakness.  Suddenly the hero isn't mediocre, he is amazing.  He (or she) defeats the bad guy, gets the girl (or guy) and lives happily ever after. Alfred Kropp was different, very different. He never discovers some secret hidden power deep within himself, he doesn’t get the girl, and most of his friends are dead before the end of the book.  Alfred really is just a normal guy.  I think that is why I like him so much.  Sure the book is fiction and the story gets a little bit carried away at times, but Alfred never does.  Those around him may be larger than life and wielding swords and bows and arrows against guys on motorcycles armed with shotguns, but not Alfred.  He is just normal and average.  He steals the sword at the beginning of the book and then spends the rest of the book trying to get it back because he knows he has done something wrong and he wants to help fix it.  One of my favorite lines from the book is where Alfred has agreed to take up the sword of the last Knight of the Round table if he falls in battle. Alfred is feeling pretty mediocre and Bennacio (the Knight) tells him, “As for being a hero-who can say what valor dwells in the soul unless some test comes?  A hero lives in every heart, Alfred, waiting for the dragon to come out.”  

     I personally believe this is true with all my heart.  A hero lives in every heart, waiting for the dragon to come out.  Every man can be a hero if he wants to be, and most are.  The real heroes are the ones that never make the headlines. Man Returns Home After Another Day at Work Providing for his Family wouldn't sell many news papers, nor would Stay at Home Mother of Five and All Children Survive Another Winter Day Inside Without Killing Each Other.  These are the real heroes; the average people who live out their average lives with great courage.  They are the husband and wife who work through their problems instead of getting a divorce. They are the wife of the drunk who sticks with him and prays for him in spite of all his faults. They are the husband who gives up buying a new TV because he knows what his family really needs is a new washer and dryer. They are the people who work 10 hour days at minimum wage to put food on the table or their kids through college. They face the temptation to quit and give up but instead they slay the dragon. When they fall they realize that the important thing is to get back up and keep going.  If they get punished for making the right choice, they make it anyway. These are the heroes that make our world great. These are the unsung heroes of holiness. The Saints who will never be canonized because the miracles they performed were so frequent that they became seen as mundane and normal. These are the heroes that can be you and me.