What Makes a Hero a Hero?

With the release of my biography of KatrinaSimpkins, Katrina and Winter:  Partners in Courage (Guardian Angel Publishing.)  I  began thinking about just what makes a person heroic. It’s a complicated question-or is it?

We all have notions of what makes a hero.  And there are historic standards by which to measure and answer the question as well.  We see a feature or footnote on the TV news and say, “Now that’s a hero!” But, why?

When I hear the word hero, I immediately think of Katrina.  She is a hero to me.  She was handed a hard lot in life through no fault of her own.  She was born with Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency, a condition that causes one limb to be shorter than the other.  In Katrina’s case, her right leg is the one affected, so she must wear a prosthetic leg.

 She not only copes.  She flourishes.  She not only never feels sorry for herself. She’s the first to help others.  She not only tries to do well in everything she attempts.  She excels.  Katrina is a hero of the first water.

An excerpt from the book sums it up:

I just want to be a normal somebody, Katrina once said.

She was that and so much more. She was courageous in ways most people

never have to be. Every hour. Every day.

A hero’s courage.

A hero’s heart.

A normal girl called Katrina.

If I may, I might add, A normal hero called Katrina…