Although I like both of these fictional characters and the works in which they appear, obviously I was being flippant in suggesting that they would be on my list of heros.

I think far too many people are called heroes by the media today. For example, I don’t consider sports players to be heroes, even if they do make the difference between winning and losing a game or even a season. My own definition of hero would be someone who, at significant risk of serious personal injury or death to himself or herself, rescues another person, or attempts to do so. I also wouldn’t normally consider people who are expected to do such things in the normal performance of their paid jobs to be heroes, except in cases where they clearly go beyond the call of duty.

I might extend my definition of hero to include some situations in which it is less clear exactly what the risk to the hero is, and in which the action taken isn’t the rescue of a specific person. For instance, I think some forms of civil disobedience qualify. One that comes to mind is Rosa Parks‘ refusal to relinquish her seat on the bus to a white man.

With regard to whether Margaret Sanger should be considered a hero, or even a role model, I think it is obvious that many people that do admirable things also do things that we disagree with. I doubt that there are many people who would be considered positive role models in all situations by all people.

This morning, I got the same treatment, and commented to Richard that Nikki was still excited to see me. Richard said that she is excited every morning.

Upon reflection, I realized that we should all be excited to see each new day, since none of us knows how many new days we will have.