Defining a genuine hero

In an episode of the TV show “Boy Meets World," Cory Matthews (Savage) accidentally starts a fire at the chemistry lab of his school.  He was able to put it out and save the school.  However, no one saw that he was the one that had started it; all anyone knew was that Cory put out the fire.  Thus, he is immediately regarded as a hero.  At first, he loves the attention, but eventually guilt begins to gnaw at him. 

In a scene that I found quite riveting, Cory gets into a discussion with the neighbor (and also the principal of the school), George Feeny, about what makes someone a hero.  Feeny says, “It means different things to different people, I suppose.  A firefighter can be a hero.  I knew of a man who worked at a factory for 30 years at a job he hated; it was the only way he could support his family.  I felt that he was a hero.”  “Sounds like one to me,” Cory replied.  “But to me,” Feeny continued.  “A real hero is someone who does the right thing when the right thing isn’t the easy thing to do.”  Moved by Feeny’s words, Cory confesses to his folks that he started the fire.  He is rewarded by getting punished by his parents, and losing whatever fame and notoriety he had obtained.  But then Feeny – who witnessed the whole thing as he is the Matthew’s next door neighbor – gave Cory these words: “well done.”
  
I was so inspired by that episode.  I want people to say of me that I’m a hero.  Not because I do something as dramatic as save someone from a burning building, but because I have the character, as Feeny put it, to do “the right thing even when the right thing isn’t the easy thing to do.”  I know that this doesn’t mean that I’ll have fame and accolades.  After all, as Cory found out, doing the right thing might actually be costly in some aspects.  Even so, I'm still committed to doing what is right, no matter how high the price tag. 

Kevin

"A wicked person earns deceptive wages, but the one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward" - Proverbs 11:18