They told me,
"Don't ever meet your hero,
because a hero
can never stand as tall
on the ground
in front of you
as on the pedestal
you have built for them.
Heroes are not real people,"
they told me,
"they are pen on paper,
scripts and make-up,
soft filters and good light."
But I know better.
I know heroes are real-
as real as the mother
who made raising eight children
look easy.
As real as the gray doctor
sitting patiently
in the college classroom,
refusing to give up
until a cure is found.
Heroes are as real as
the people across the street
and down the block
and sitting in traffic
next to you.
They are a seat forsaken on a bus
and a bag of groceries
paid for and delivered.
They are sidewalks shoveled
and walls painted
and songs sung to crying children.
So if you are ever lucky enough
to meet your hero,
remember,
the heroic lives in you, too.
You have sonnets in your soul
and epic battles in your eyes.
You are Jason,
Hercules,
Harriet Tubman.
You are no less feet on the ground
than head in the clouds, darling,
so do not step down
from the pedestal
I have placed you on.
