A World Without Heroes

"Where you don't know what you're after
Or if something's after you
And you don't know why you don't know

In a world without heroes
There's nothing to be
It's no place for me"

-Stanley, Simmons, Ezrin, Reed

A hero is someone that the rest of us seek to emulate, strive to imitate, to model our actions after.....

 

Today is my brother John's birthday. He's my hero....always has been. Not because he did exactly what he set out in life to do. Not because he was, hands down, bar none, the best in his field. Not because he was famous for a while. Not because he was hysterically funny or because he was smarter than most people. Not because he didn't suffer fools, or because he could tell you like it is....Not because of his love of music or of all things science fiction. Not because of the charity work he participated in or the way he could make everyone around him feel special. Not because of all the things he taught me.... Not because he always made me feel safe....

He was all of these things, but that's not why he was my hero. 

He was my hero because he had passion...pure and simple.....

"I hope there's something that's as important to you as breathing, as exhilarating in its execution as flying down the highway at 100 miles an hour taking a high, hot turn without so much as a hint of a loss of control. Y'know? That one thing, no matter other people's opinions or like or dislike of it…it is something of yours. That one singular something that helps to define you, a something that you just can't live without doing. Hobby, job, avocation…whatever."

"I don't know if you have a passion in your life. Mine's broadcasting. Mine's verbal or musical expression of myself, whether it's silly or serious, deft or ham-handed…it's that verbal expression tied to music or current events that unfolds over a three or four hour period in which I've researched, sought out meaning, distilled into a regular place and time for sharing from me to you. I don't even care if you like it or not. I am not in the thrall of approval, it's not about you loving me so I can feel fulfilled. The fulfillment comes merely from the doing of it. The passion of it. The substance, or lack thereof… of it...... It's not about the content, really, it's about the DOING, the rush, the thrill, the spike of peak emotion that courses through my veins, my soul as I crack open the microphone and tell the most compelling story I've just written or the stupidest joke someone told me or how a song could have possibly made it out of the head of a lifelong heroin junkie to have an impact on "straights" everywhere." - John Majhor

My brother left my presence on January 23rd, 2007... . Someday, when I'm much stronger, I may actually grieve his passing... but for now, I'll keep listening to his voice in my head, telling me to find MY passion in life....

from the Dark Side