Heroes
Each and every day we shamelessly give the term, “Hero” to people in the spotlight, who are able to use their talents to make monies for the businesses they work for. There are baseball, basketball and football players that are called “hero” every time they play just a game. These people, whether good or bad in their own lives, are given this credit by lending names to a foundation or cause while actually not giving to the cause.
In our lifetime we have been fortunate enough to have known of three true heroes from the athletic field. They are Roberto Clemente, Terry Fox and Rick Hansen. Let us look at what these great humanitarians did to be considered heroes too.
Roberta Clemente was a right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates who was from the Dominican Republic. He exhibited his hall of fame talents in Pittsburgh from 1955 to 1972. Some say that he was and still is the best baseball player ever from the Dominican Republic. He was able to win MVP awards and a World Series. Roberto Clemente’s greatest accomplishment was giving back to his home country to assist the children of this great nation. He not only lent his name but paid the ultimate price with his life on December 31, 1972 while on a relief mission to Nicaragua by his plane crashing in the Caribbean. A fellow country that was devastated by an earthquake.
Terry Fox became famous for his Marathon of Home across Canada from April 12, 1980 to September 1, 1980. What made this marathon a special marathon was that Terry Fox was a cancer survivor and was doing this to show cancer can be beaten not the human inside us all. Unfortunately, the Marathon of Hope was not completed because there was cancer discovered in his lungs. We lost this inspiration on June 28, 1981. His legacy is that Terry Fox united a nation and completed 5373 KM and an annual run is hosted under his name. More important he gave us all hope.
Rick Hansen was involved in a car accident when he was fifteen years old. While recovering from this accident, Rick Hansen realized he was to be paralyzed for the remainder of his life. Before the accident, Rick Hansen was a very athletic individual. These skills were put to the test and he graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Physical Education Degree, even with his disability. His lasting legacy started on March 21, 1985 from Vancouver. Rick Hansen took his wheelchair across the earth in the Man in Motion Tour that took place in 34 countries and logged over 40 000 KM. Rick Hansen’s main goal was to raise awareness and funds for spinal cord research and at the end of this tour on May 22, 1987 $26 million dollars had been raised.
These are just three examples of human beings who truly do not want the attention but were able to use their heart and desire to unselfishly affect us all. People everyday give unselfishly to all of us and should be considered heroes in our world. They are the people who volunteer at shelters, walk a thons, and raise awareness. Unfortunately one of the best characteristics about these heroes is that you do not know who they are because they do not want you to know they are heroes.
Classic Albums
Richie Sambora – Stranger in this Town
After being the side man in Bon Jovi for many years and adding some of the best harmonies to all of the songs that you and I love, in 1991 Richie Sambora decided to release this masterpiece. This rock and blues influenced album has never gotten the credit it so richly deserved by the masses. Richie Sambora lets his true soul out in this piece of recording. You can hear this in his very honest passion and playing throughout this album. Known for his guitar playing, Richie Sambora bares his soul in the slow ballads, “Stranger in this Town”, “One Light Burning”, “Father Time” and concluding the albums with the tearfully passionate “The Answer”. Now this is not just a ballad album. He lets the music and songs rip during “The Ballad of Youth”, “Rosie” and “Church of Desire”. Throughout the album, Richie Sambora’s backing band was not other than the remaining players in Bon Jovi themselves and a Mr. Eric Clapton takes over the guitar playing in “Mr. Bluesman”. What struck me throughout the entire album was the voice that was given to these songs. You can tell that this was a labour of love and when you listen to it, you cannot help but feel that too.
Random Notes
I have been reading about the controversy in regards to Adam Lambert’s performance at the American Music Awards. Well being an eighties child, this brings me back to a time where not all music was based on talent just looks. What he did was sacrificed his actual talent for a performance that got everyone talking and that was it. There is no doubt that Adam Lambert has vocal talent and has the potential to be compared to such great singers with range such as Freddie Mercury, Axl Rose or Paul Stanley. However, he played the publicity card that took away from his talent. I wonder if he did not have a CD coming out the same week if he would have done it. I do not think so. It is a shame.
I will give credit to Kris Allen, the person who did actually win American Idol the same season and here is why. The week before he released a CD and did not play that card. Kris Allen is letting the music speak for itself. Kris Allen’s CD will not sell near the amount but he has my respect for not going that route.
I totally agree with you about heroes. Heroes are people who do these wonderful things for the resto f us, and don't want the recognition. Although, I do think they should be rewarded in some way. Probably the satisfaction of doing something good is award enough, but to see their good deed turn into something much bigger then they themselves pictured, would be bigger.
ReplyDeleteAs for Adam Lambert, yes ... he played the publicity card ... but, I think the controversy over this is simply people think it's disgusting what he did. The fact is, is that if a woman did that to a man, or vice versa, there would be no controversy. It bothered people to see a man on man kiss, and a simulated sexual act. Weirdly enough, when Madonna and Britney did it a couple years back, it was fine. Halle Berry and Adrian Brody had an unscripted make out a few years before that, and it was fine. It all comes down to ABC feeling the heat from viewers who were disturbed by a gay man's intense performance, and them bowing down to them. To them feeling that a lesbian kiss is okay (believe me, I watch several of their shows, and they have plenty of lesbains), but that a gay kiss is not.
I do agree that he played the publicity card though. Does it make me like him less. No. He still has a great voice, and seems like a nice enough guy. He is new. Once he get seasoned, he won't feel like he needs to stir the pot.