'We can be heroes.' (David Bowie) I’ve known and worked alongside so many heroes that I can hardly begin to list them all. These aren’t famous celebrities, basking in wealth and media limelight. They’re ordinary people who have chosen to live extraordinary lives. I say chosen because they could all have done something different, something more ‘normal’, yet chose – and still choose – to take the road-less-travelled. It’s always a choice, even if it doesn’t always feel like a choice. There’s Rudi. He’s a social worker in Germany who has committed his life and career to work relentlessly to prevent the social and political conditions that led to the rise of the Nazis. He looks on the rise of the AfD with alarm. And there’s Jasmin. She’s poor and lives among the poorest in the Philippines. She gives every spare peso and moment of her time – with scary degrees of self-sacrifice – to bring love and hope to the most vulnerable people. Then there’s Sue. She was on the last plane out of Saigon to rescue mixed-race children at the end of the Vietnam war. The plane was riddled with bullets. She and the children lay terrified on the floor as the aircraft fled the runway. She rarely speaks about it now. And there’s Mike. He works with street gangs and drug addicts in the UK, putting his own welfare at risk because he sees potential in people where others only see broken, messed-up lives. All of these people are ‘followers of Jesus’. They challenge and inspire me and serve as a continual reminder that every moment represents a decision, a choice to live a self-centred life or to serve a higher cause – whether that be God, humanity or nature-environment. I find it easy to get distracted, to slip into pragmatism, expediency, convenience or comfort. Yet I want to live a well-lived life. Who are your heroes and how do they inspire you?
20 Comments
Tara Parker
3/1/2018 02:40:23 pm
Nick, this blog resonated with me. It made me think about who my heroes are or might have been throughout my life. It makes me think because you bring about a new definition of hero - one that inspires us versus the typical "Hollywood" version of the one who saves us. We often look at heroes from that self-serving perspective when heroes are the ones who sacrifice for others not to gain the glory but to extend themselves to see others lifted.
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Nick Wright
3/1/2018 02:44:49 pm
Thanks Tara. I love the way you expressed that: 'extend themselves to see others lifted'. So true - and so inspiring.
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Tamara Hylton
3/1/2018 08:57:55 pm
Amen to that!
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Nick Wright
3/1/2018 09:02:02 pm
Thanks Tamara. :)
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Vivek Sharma
8/1/2018 02:18:10 pm
Great post!
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Nick Wright
8/1/2018 02:18:37 pm
Thank you, Vivek!
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Rhonda Strehlow
9/1/2018 12:22:46 am
My hero is Sue. She is brave and insightful. She is fearless when she believes in someone or something. Her forward thinking threatens some people, yet she persists. She will always be someone I look up to.
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Nick Wright
9/1/2018 12:23:29 am
Thanks Rhonda. Sue sounds like a great role model for you!
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Sue West
9/1/2018 10:22:36 am
Funnily enough, one my 'Heroes' is Princess Mary of Denmark. How hard must it be to do real work in real life problems, when you have been thrust into celebrity status on the other side of the planet, with another language and all the constraints of being in a royal family? Her work to make dents in social isolation is to be applauded.
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Nick Wright
9/1/2018 10:28:26 am
Hi Sue. Yes, I guess it is easy to forget that 'royalty' are simply human beings just like any other human being - with all that entails. I'd be interested to hear more about her work on dealing with social isolation. Do you have any examples that have inspired you?
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Lisa Ford
10/1/2018 09:51:51 am
'I find it easy to get distracted, to slip into pragmatism, expediency, convenience or comfort. Yet I want to live a well-lived life.' A conundrum for so many of us. Thank you for expressing it so eloquently, Nick.
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Nick Wright
10/1/2018 09:52:24 am
Thanks Lisa. So it's not just me then... ;)
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Laurie Allan
10/1/2018 09:00:52 pm
Edgar Schein, one of OD's grandfathers. Margaret Wheatly for recalling us to the "we don't change organizations, our clients do. Ron Heifetz for Adaptive Change; John Kotter and the Immunity to Change folks for helping us learn so much about helping others change; Jim Collins for the core concepts of Good to Great; The MIT Center for Organizational Learning and all of the people there who pave the way to becoming present to the future. Coaching Ourselves for empowering organizations through peer coaching. TRhe list keeps going on and on and these are a few I would like to thank.
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Nick Wright
10/1/2018 09:01:55 pm
Hi Laurie. That's quite a list of the good and the great in the OD arena! :)
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Matthias von Mitzlaff
15/1/2018 08:43:16 pm
Sophie Scholl has died at the age of 21 for her beliefs and for something that was very important for a post-war Germany to create a new identity that is linked to peace, democracy and diversity.
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Nick Wright
15/1/2018 08:44:26 pm
Thank you, Matthias. Sophie and Steve sound like inspiring people!
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Robert Williams
28/1/2018 12:16:48 am
My heroes are the missionaries: CT Studd, Hudson Taylor, William Carey, Eric Liddell, William Borden (although he did not quite make it), Brother Yun, my pastor, etc.
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Nick Wright
28/1/2018 12:17:44 am
Hi Robert. That looks like a great list to me. What is it about those people that inspires you most?
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Mark Donnelly
5/2/2018 11:02:56 am
Samson.
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Nick Wright
5/2/2018 11:03:21 am
Hi Mark. Say more?
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Nick WrightI'm a psychological coach, trainer and OD consultant. Curious to discover how can I help you? Get in touch! Like what you read? Simply enter your email address below to receive regular blog updates!
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