I Need a Hero - by Curtis Bennett

This post is from my Father, Curtis Bennett, and his thoughts on heroes.

This morning I hit the treadmill because I was too wimpy for the Utah cold.  I plugged myself into my iPod and tuned into my "Exercise" playlist.  The first song included the sage words of the modern day philosopher and songwriter Michael Jackson (said with a smile, almost a laugh)...words that made me think of my son Mason, and nephew Kenton.
 

I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror

I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways

And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer

If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place

Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change

 

Then the next song..."Holding out for a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler (don't watch the video it will ruin it).   

Where have all the good men gone

And where are all the gods?

Where's the street-wise Hercules

To fight the rising odds?

Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?

Late at night I toss and turn and dream of what I need

I need a hero!

 

Aside from letting you in to my "music listening psyche," I was thinking of two young men, making a change in their lives and the lives of others.  Heroes out there striving to make "real" differences in the world today and willing to work for it, not just talk about it.  I thought about the Mormon missions they served and the real life experiences they witnessed.  Knowing both from birth, I've seen how they have evolved into men, the type of men sorely needed today.   

To some it seems crazy, ill advised, dangerous, perhaps even dumb to ride a skateboard 600 miles, on a busy highway, on your own with little support.  Aren't there easier ways?  Couldn't they sell cookies?  Have a lemonade stand?  Perhaps...but I see heroes, real life heroes and I'm proud.  Unashamedly, completely and happily proud.

 I have had the privilege of meeting, even spending time with purported heroes like Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Steve Young and others.  In some ways they are truly heroes.  I've even had the privilege of hosting men who have walked on the moon or dived to the bottom of the deepest oceans.  Real American heroes.  But today I give thanks for two obscure young men, alone on skateboards along a busy highway, who are working to raise money for children in a far off country who are much less fortunate than they, true heroes half a world away!

 I know these young men and love them,and the "real" motivation for what they do comes from the lyrics of the last song of my 4 mile treadmill ordeal, sung by the BYU Men's Choir...

The song is titled "I Love The Lord". The arrangement is by Ronald Staheli. The lyrics are a paraphrase of 2 Nephi 4 from the Book of Mormon.

 

I love the Lord, in Him my soul delights.

Upon His word, I ponder day and night.

He's heard my cry, brought visions to my sleep,

And kept me safe o'er deserts and the deep.

He's filled my heart with His consuming love,

And borne me high on wings of His great dove.

 

Yet oft I groan, "O wretched man am I"

My flesh is weak and I'm encompassed by

A world of sin, which holds me in its thrall,

If I give in and to temptations fall.

Then strength grows slack, I waste in sorrows vale;

My peace destroyed, my enemies prevail.

 

Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin.

Rejoice, my heart! And let me praise again,

The Lord my God, who is my rock and stay

To keep me strict upon His straight, plain way.

Oh let me shake at the first sight of sin

And thus escape my foes without and in.

 

I love the Lord, In him my soul delights. 

 

Watch this video...worth it!

 We have our heroes!  Mason...Kenton, you are my heroes!

(Best song for the last 9 minutes of any run, "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd...I know...TMI)