Legends and Heroes

    I have been blessed to live in an era where the media, for all its faults has brought us heroes into our living rooms on a daily basis.  Yes, the media also supplies lots of junk and trash, but as a librarian I know that the shelves are full and it is I who choose what to take from them. 
   I still have the power to turn off the power, change the channel or just do something else, which I often do when others in my family watch something I do not want.
     Over the years, seeing legendary heroes often, helps cement the knowledge that those who are determined can do much with their lives. Bob Hope,  Jimmy Stewart, Michael Landon, Marlo and Danny Thomas, are just some of the heroes I count as extraordinary leaders. 
    Bob Hope entertained the troops on foreign soil through danger, discomfort and unpopular wars.  He helped countless other careers in a tough business and was a humorist who could dig, tease and ridicule,  without being hateful.  I so wish the modern comedians could have learned from his example.
   Jimmy Stewart was a gentleman in Hollywood who could play cowboy or Congressman with equal fervor, who spoke slowly and gently at times but you had no doubt of his strength.  He served his country in the Air Force, was a true family man and friend.  He worked long past 65 - as most Americans do.
   Michael Landon, who I grew up adoring as Little Joe in Bonanza, became the Angel in Highway to Heaven which gave voice to  faith at a time our country desperately needed television to have some good choices for family viewing,  and he went on to create one of the greatest family shows ever in the Little House on the Prairie series based on Laura Ingalls Wilder's books.  Michael Landon Jr is another one of his gifts to the world.  Any parent would be proud.
  Danny Thomas and his daughter Marlo have led the unerring fight against Cancer in children for most of my life.  My young cousin Mike Yates benefited from St. Jude over 30 years ago and our family all still stands in awe of this wonderful facility.  Ideas can have far reaching effects and last generations.  I still remember the show Make Room for Daddy, but it is St. Jude that will touch lives forever.