In search for new heroes

Are we out of heroes nowadays? We constantly seek to single them out. Do they still exist?

I believe they proliferate everywhere. They are in streets playing hide and seek with the jeepneys and buses to make their way of living. They are in schools to suffice their quest for knowledge. They are in offices working on an eight-hour schedule. They are in large haciendas, tilling the lands they will never own. There are those sailing in seas to send money back home. They are in dump sites, with the flies and worms, hoping money will surface out of a hill of garbage. They are just around.

I've known many heroes. There is Rizal,whose statues can be found in many parts of the globe.He fought by his pen. A peaceful revolution. Andres Bonifacio, Apolinario Mabini, Ninoy Aquino and many others.We have Lapu-lapu,the popular chieftain of Mactan who killed Magellan.

Our history books speaks most of these heroes well.

How about the OFWs often called our modern day heroes. Workers sentenced to death in an alien country are also heroes in their own rights. Those excelling in sports, music and entertainment and other fields of endeavor are heroes too.

What makes a hero? He should be patriotic. He should have a great sense of nationalism. Perhaps, he considers the benefit of others first before his own, even risking his life for them. Does someone needs to die before he can be called a hero?

I suppose it is more dignified to see heroes alive. Heroes that we can interact everyday. Heroes who continue to spread their heroism.

Our long search for them is never-ending. For all we know, they are on the brink of extinction like endangered species. Not unless, you're heroes are those monuments carved in metals and stones in our parks, then the search for new heroes remains to be seen.