Real Heroes vs. Ersatz Heroes

     Sorry sports fans, but honestly, I am getting g kind of tired of the Olympic coverage because it's kind of boring. To me, bobsledding, ski races, ice dancing, etc, etc all looks pretty much the same, the only difference being a few hundredths of a second or a nuance here and there that I am unable to pick up on. 
     For me the real heroes are those who participate in the Paralympic Games. These are people with a wide range of disabilities who participate in sporting events. People with things like paraplegia, quadriplegia, muscular dystrophy, post-polio syndrome, spina bifida, amputations or various congenital disorders such as leg length difference, short stature, central nervous system disorders, lack of voluntary coordination of muscle movements, abnormal muscle contractions, vision impairment and intellectual impairment. 
     A hero is someone who can be looked up to for their actions and courage is usually their biggest trait and they have usually overcome huge obstacles. And these are people who have overcome a lot more, both physically and emotionally, than the healthy kids and young adults participating in the Olympics have ever overcome and that makes them the real heroes. 
     As actress Mary Tyler Moore said, "You can't be brave if you've had only wonderful things happen to you." And, General Norman Schwarzkopf wrote, “It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle” Certainly the title “hero” belongs to those who participate in the Paralympic Games. 
     But, it's the same everywhere.