Heroic servanthood

I’ve used this quote by Arthur Ashe before, but it bears repeating. Ashe said, “True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve at whatever cost.”

This past weekend, my brother, Mark, provided an example of heroic servanthood that Ashe is describing. The sink at my house wasn’t draining properly. I’m next to useless when it comes to such projects. My dad is the handyman, so he and I were toying with it, but there came a point where Dad had realized that even he was not going to be able to fix it. Enter my brother, Mark.

On Friday night, Mark was able to pinpoint the problem: there was two decades worth of buildup from the kitchen sink. It was built up in an area that was not slanted in the proper direction, so the drainage had been going uphill, so to speak, for all those years. Because of this, all of the food was getting clogged at that spot. The next day, Saturday, with my brother’s expertise and know-how, the problem was finally resolved.

I am so grateful to my brother for sacrificing his comfort, his time, and his energy to help unclog this problem drainpipe. He certainly didn’t have to do so, but he heroically chose to give of himself. It’s remarkable to me to think about the fact that my brother didn’t take any money for this job, a job that took something like 15 hours to complete. It was Memorial Day weekend; had my brother been busy, I don’t even want to think about how much money a plumber would have charged!

This example I’ve shared is heroism. No, this isn’t giving your life on the battlefield, but this is still heroism, in my book. This is heroism that is "remarkably sober [and] very undramatic" to quote Ashe again. Incidentally, this is not an isolated event. Day in and day out, my brother selflessly serves, protects, and provides for his wife and family.

Kevin