Tuesday Chat - Hero Edition

Thanks once again to Leslie for hosting the Tuesday Coffee Chat.  This week's theme is:

Hero's

Leslie wanted us to discuss who our hero was.  I will go with my parents.  Both of them came from modest beginnings.  If one looked at their backgrounds one would not see anything special.  My dad work as a factory worker and my mother worked in retail.  Their existence from an external view could be described as pedestrian or  workaday.  When one looks deeper however they are so much more.  Both of my parents by today's standards would be undereducated yet both of them read vociferously.  They are self taught.  My mom is particularly good in the social sciences while my dad with little formal education used to teach engineers how to upgrade and service machinery at the plant.  Further, my dad has charisma.  People are drawn to him and he has a likability that I wish one of the presidential candidates had.  He is genuine in his love of people.   If they were born into a different era or with a different set of circumstances (read: not poor) both could have been very successful professionals.  They were essentially never afforded the choice.  While some could be bitter with their lot in life, they are not.  Instead, they turned their energy into making the best of what opportunities they were allowed and creating possibilities for their children.  It is because of they are that I was able to achieve what I have to date.  Further, it is because of the sacrifices they have made that they have created an environment where I am able to provide a good life for my children.  There is no specific act that made them heroes in my eyes but rather a series of positive life choices which has created a better world for others that have elevated them to heroic status in my mind.