It was Will Rogers who said, "We can't all be heroes, because someone
has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by." But I believe there
are many unsung heroes sitting on the curb -- unsung, unhonored and
unrecognized because what they do each day is taken for granted. They
do things that make our lives more pleasant. Some of them are paid
for jobs that we would never want, but many volunteer out of feelings
for others.
Let's take, for instance, the many crossing guards (like Mrs. G on
Briggs at Mountain) who stop traffic and conduct our children across
busy streets. Don't tell me they are paid for doing it. We both know
that they'll never get rich on their little paychecks. They do for us
what we haven't the time to do; they walk our kids (part way) to
school. In fair weather or foul, they are on duty, seeing to the
safety of our children. I think we should say "thanks" by waving and
smiling whenever we pass them guiding their charges.
We all owe a debt of gratitude to the many volunteers who spend so
much time and give so much attention to our comfort in our hospitals.
Many of them man information desks, carry books and magazines to
patients, operate gift shops and comfort lonely patients. They may
not have the ability to diagnose or heal, but they do what they can
-- while others do nothing. That's what makes them heroes.
And how about all those people who walk our city streets for
exercise and pick up cans and bottles as they go to keep
nonbiodegradable recyclable items out of our city dumps? I see them
all the time, scanning the gutters and bushes for "empties" as they
race along Foothill Boulevard early in the morning. I've never been
able to understand why soda cans and water bottles become so
intolerable in an automobile once they are empty.
And I've seen them picking up broken glass beer bottles that
uncaring motorists have thrown from their vehicles as they drove by.
If your tires and your dog's feet have never encountered these glass
shards, you can say "thanks" to these street walkers.
And how about the people who sneak out early in the morning to
paint over graffiti? They operate on the theory that it's no fun to
leave your "placa" on a wall if no one ever gets to see it. Covering
it up discourages taggers from leaving their marks in this area. My
hat is off to these "redecorators," because they do their good deeds
anonymously.
We can't say "thanks" because we don't know who they are. They
enjoy their anonymity almost as much as they do our clean walls. My
