Tuesday, February 8, 2011


Family of Heroes
 By Philip Jay Gould
You sacrifice the small for the large…. Trade the visible for the unseen.
You decline the superficial in return for the deep and profound. Give up popularity for a higher good. 
You refuse momentary pleasures for the long lasting eternal goodness that comes from your ideas.
The shallow, they hate you… and fear you.
You are my Hero.
The prevalent authorities call you names and look down upon you, to preserve their own false image of superiority, which is just the mask of a weakling.
The traditions from the past you break from are the chains that tie your enemies to a frozen state of awe and fear.
You seek to change, others refuse to change.
You go for the unknown, while others fear the unknown.
Seek the truth in all its deep and eternal glory, while others shun the truth in favor of the status quo.
You hate the status quo with every atom, electron, and cell in your body…….and always will.
You are my Hero.
You know what will happen to you, yet you do not run away. 
Know so well that they will kill you or at least try, but you still speak out with happiness and pride.
You are a member of a family.
The Jesus, Buddha, Lincoln, Rizal, Martin Luther King,
Mathatma Gandhi, Socrates, Galileo, Florence Nightingale,
Mother Teresa, Joan D’Arc, Thomas Jefferson,
Nichiren Daishonin, Makaguchi, Toda, and Daisaku Ikeda family. ….
Along with the un-known millions who sacrificed themselves for their beliefs.
You stood up against injustice and shouted at the top of their lungs. “That is wrong.”
When the old guard tried to control your mind, every neuron in your brain sent out an electric charge of freedom of thought like a barrage of flying arrows.
Never succumb to the robot mentality. Read, study, think, talk, and grow ever more.  Keep growing and growing until your brain is a big as the universe.
You are my hero.
Even with one thought, you can start. Even with one word or phrase; you can join the family of heroes.
The eternal family of humanity’s heroes,
Who, from beginning-less time have reached out beyond the sunset for one more minute of light, for even one more moment of joy and life.
Just take one step. …. Away from the crowd, then another, keep moving…
For all who have yearned for freedom and dignity even in the muddy squalor of poverty, even embroiled in the stench of death, even surrounded by cowards and fools, you kept hoping and dreaming,
Even after they tried to render you hopeless….
“There must be a better way.” You thought.
“There must come a better day.”
“This is not all there is.”
“This is not the way it has to be.”
 “No! No! No!  I will not shut up.”
“No, I will not accept things they way they are.” You screamed out loud from the very depths of our soul…
 Say it again!
 You are my hero.
 I am your brother.

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