The stories of HeroicStories.
by Joe Blachman
Panorama City, California, USA
In the summer of 1983, I worked at a camp near Lake Arrowhead in Southern California. This was the last summer of my college years and would likely be the last I could afford to spend at a camp. At 22, I was among the more senior staffers in age. The camp director, Norman, was not only my boss that summer, but had been director at a camp I attended as a child.
by Amy Marchand Collins
Merriam, Kansas, USA
In 1998 the Association for Global New Thought launched the first “Season for Nonviolence,” honoring the principles of M.K. Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The Unity Church of Overland Park was a sponsor in the Kansas City area, and I was on the leadership team. Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, Arun Gandhi, who with his wife Sunanda carries on his grandfather’s work, accepted our invitation to come speak. We organized a dinner and fundraiser in his honor.
by Steve Booth
Pewaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Both of my parents were teachers at a nice school. Mom taught fourth grade there for 28 years. Dad was a well-educated, “strong, silent type” who taught sixth grade. He had a Master’s degree in two areas and was a principal of a school for awhile, but decided he’d rather teach kids than put up with the hassle of being a principal, even if the money wasn’t as good.
by Jennifer Schrader
Bowie, Maryland, USA
I was an ungainly child — well-loved by my family, but made fun of often by schoolmates for being too big, a klutz, and oblivious of social skills. I also had some physical ailments in first grade, and long after those problems were fixed, my classmates remembered that I was a pariah and treated me with derision. I had seriously low self-confidence and I deeply feared bringing unplanned attention to myself.
By Paula Fleischer
California, USA
Rabbi William Kramer officiated at a Jewish temple in Burbank, California, for many years. When we lived in the area, my family attended this temple, and we were always touched by his humanity. His sermons often left us with tears rolling down our cheeks as we recognized our own human frailties, and our opportunities to be better human beings. In fact, my mother’s eyes often filled with tears even before the Rabbi spoke in anticipation of his great lessons.
by Bob Burg
Jupiter, Florida, USA
Have you ever known of someone who sets an example you can learn from, emulate, and utilize for the rest of your life? Such a person is my Dad.
by Robert Holland
Medford, Oregon, USA
My father was originally a commercial fisherman who had come ashore to take better care of his family and offer his children better opportunities. He first worked as a diesel mechanic at a shipyard, then opened his own shop. He was not a highly educated man. Military academy was all his schooling, and then he had to drop out during the depression and start fishing to help my grandmother and aunt. So, when he opened his own business and began to work for himself, it was very hard — long hours were put in.
by Bill Carrell
Memphis, Tennessee, USA
One day in Japan, during the early days of the occupation following World War II, two of my friends and I boarded a train. After I sat down, I noticed that only the men were seated. All the women with all their baggage and babies on their backs were attempting to keep their balance by hanging onto the overhead straps.
Pat Fletcher
Washington, USA
We were in our 20’s, with two small children — our ability to take a vacation constrained by a very tight budget. Many times in the 1960’s and ’70’s we returned to New York City from vacation with just enough gas and no money for tolls. But one vacation in 1966 almost ended on our way north from NYC.
Dada Maheshvarananda
Caracas, Venezuela
On the night of February 28, 1985, a huge fire broke out in a slum in Manila, Philippines. No one was hurt, but more than 50,000 people lost their homes.