Heroism

(Part fiction. Part not.)

How do you define what a hero is? Is it a measure of power, skill or prowess, or is it character?

Comic books show us the hero as square jawed, tall, muscled and with a drive to do what is right to save the weaker population. Fold in a troubled past, a mad scientist, altered DNA, alien genes, or a skill of unmatched proficiency. Add in a dash of a wicked sense of humour or better yet, a reluctant sense of duty and it's a winning formula. Every man wants to be that hero. Every woman wants to be with that hero.

When I was a child I wanted a hero, and I wanted to be that hero. I realise in later life that I might be; I fight battles every day and come out the victor.

I am not able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. I do not have a millionaire's fortune at my disposal to build a suit of mechanised armour. I do not have a highly trained background in martial arts and I am not a Russian femme fatale recruited as a spy. I don't have a magic ring or a secret base of operations.

Although, all that would be cool.

Instead I am human, female. Nothing special. But every day a war is being fought between good and evil inside my own body. At the end of every day I count the casualties, the damage and the victories. Every hair lost, every smile made through the pain, every time I hold my head high, and there are millions like me. True hero's.