Everyday Hero Stories

Where did your values come from?

We've all had people in our lives who have made a positive impact on us. A parent or grandparent, a sibling who was there for us, or maybe even just a guy who shines shoes for a living? Whoever they are, tell us their story so they can inspire us even more.

Tell Us Your Story
TRUST
TRUST I bought a violin from a man who lives a long distance away. I had contacted him by phone after being given information about him by my violin teacher. The violin seller asked for my name and address, and we agreed that he would send me the violin, I would send him my old one, and after he had evaluated my old...
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TEACHING BY EXAMPLE
THE CONNECTION Like most of my fellow actors in New York I was "between jobs" and making ends meet as a lunch waiter in a small high quality Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village. I was a lousy waiter. I enjoyed the customers and didn't mind the work, but my ADD kept me from coordinating all the details a good waiter needs to...
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FORGIVENESS
PLEASE ACCEPT MY APOLOGY You probably remember me from the other day. I was the one who reacted very slowly to the green traffic light. When you honked your horn, I realized I was holding up traffic, so please accept my apology. However, I do want you to know why I seemed in a daze. You see, I was just at the doctor's office getting the...
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OPPORTUNITY
AN OLD DUTCHMAN TEACHES ME WORK ETHIC Being from a well-to-do family didn't excuse me from work in the summer. My Dad, raised during the Great Depression, realized the benefits and discipline of hard work. He didn't want me to grow up soft. When I was sixteen, he sent me to work with Martin Brock, a sixty-something farmer. It was early June in...
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ENCOURAGEMENT
HOW YOU GOING TO FEED THAT PIG? Dad's question rendered me speechless. I had been saving to buy a pig for months, and when somebody gave me a dollar for my sixth birthday, I had $5 to buy the pig. Then he said: "I have a deal for you. I'll furnish the feed for your pig, and you can furnish the labor to feed the pigs. Then, when your pig grows...
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FRIENDSHIP
PEGGY Susie May Isaacs, my great-grandmother, was a beautiful woman, both in person and in spirit. She lived through two World Wars and the Great Depression. She was born in a dugout in Western Oklahoma to a Cheyenne Indian father and white mother during a time of great upheaval for the Native Americans in the Oklahoma...
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CARING
BEING THERE New York City- One hot summer day I was rushing late to my workplace on the Upper West Side. As I cut through a small park I heard a woman sobbing. Rather wailing I should say, as if she were bursting with the pain of all life. The sound was so striking that I stopped immediately in my tracks to find out where it...
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REACHING OUT
LEARNING TO GIVE In the United States we have many material blessings available to us. However, oftentimes we do not share those blessings with others. While on a trip to Romania I learned a very important law of life: give of yourself and your possessions every chance you have. During July of 1999, I, along with eight others,...
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HELPING OTHERS
WORTH MORE THAN MONEY I remember going to LaborReady in Long Island City, Queens to find work. I had enough money for the carfare there; I was hungry and hoped that the agency would find work and pay me for the day. By the end of the day, there was no work for me. I left; I was hot and tired but I had no money to go home. I worked up...
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OPPORTUNITY
RIGHT PLACE - RIGHT TIME A few years ago when my youngest son Matthew was about 8 or 9 years old, we were getting things together to take to the Salvation Army at Christmas time. The boys would go through their old toys and give away what they didn't "need." I always make cookies and get together blankets and clothes. Matt and I were...
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OPPORTUNITY
LOVE AND CHARITY My 3-year-old showed me just how good it feels to give to others when we went to the store for our 'treat day' (Fridays). She picked out her treat, and noticed a little boy asking his mom to buy him a chocolate bar. The little boy's mom told him they only had enough for bread and milk. My daughter turned to me...
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OPPORTUNITY
TOOTHLESS GRIN I was doing some last-minute Christmas shopping in a toy store and decided to look at Barbie dolls for my nieces. A nicely dressed little girl was excitedly looking through the Barbie dolls as well, with a roll of money clamped tightly in her little hand. When she came upon a Barbie she liked, she would turn and...
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DETERMINATION
COMPASSION My husband, Sam, has shown me a lot of great Values throughout our five years together, but the most telling of his personality was when, at the age of 31, he decided to donate his kidney to a complete stranger! He had a friend that died from complications from diabetes and kidney failure, and he wanted to do...
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COURAGE
THE GIFT OF LIFE As a child I knew my brother was sick. But, until recently I never understood the impact his illness would have on his life, as well as mine. In the past year, at the young age of 33, my brother's kidneys began to fail as a result of Juvenile diabetes. When I realized his health was declining, I chose to give...
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UNITY
GOLDEN RULE Three years ago I was invited to join a group of individuals that were of diverse faiths. These wonderful people each have different beliefs and worship individually according to their faiths traditions. One thing that they all share is their faith's version of the Golden Rule. This is the one thing that each...
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COURTESY
THE HANDSHAKE This little story I'm about to tell you happened when I was about 11 years old, and I'll never forget it. I was at my friend Jenny's house after school one day, and we were doing (or not doing!) homework. While I was there a friend of Jenny's mom came over to visit. I don't remember her name or even what...
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HONESTY
FINDING PATIENCE Yesterday, I was frantically juggling between preparing chili for the crock pot so we can have dinner ready after my son's baseball game (during which I had to leave to pick up my husband from work since we're down to one car only to come home and rush everyone to bed in order to meet a work deadline that I...
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DETERMINATION
MY GENEROUS SISTER My sister Jane talked me into training for a marathon even though I was in terrible shape, and not athletic like her. I often wanted to quit, but she spurred me on, and always had a positive attitude. She was very disappointed that she couldn't go to the New York More Marathon with me, but, as is typical of her,...
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CARING
GRAM'S LEGACY Gram Kelly was the model grandmother. She doted on her many grandchildren as though we were her sole purpose for rising in the morning. Gram made us feel so special! She was preoccupied with leaving something behind, though. Gram worried about being able to pay for her funeral as well as leaving an inheritance...
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LOVE
LOVE My grandmother passed away on Christmas day 2002. She was 68 years old and had multiple health problems. A few days after her funeral, I was at her home with my grandfather. We were looking at a wall of pictures they have in the den. He picked up a picture of him and his wife on their wedding day. They were both...
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COURAGE
MY FATHER, MY HERO Since Father's Day is approaching, once again I sit and wonder what tools he would like or what new golf item he could use. After awhile of pondering, I sit and think of who he is to me. During my turbulent teen years I always tested my dad because, you see, we were so alike. My mother played referee between us,...
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LOVE
SHMILY My grandparents were married for over half a century, and played their own special game from the time they had met each other. The goal of their game was to write the word "shmily" in a surprise place for the other to find. They took turns leaving "shmily" around the house, and as soon as one of them discovered...
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LIVE YOUR DREAMS
KINDRED SPIRITS I'm a graduate student at UCLA. Last weekend my family and I celebrated my Great Aunt Loretta's 85th birthday. Even though we don't see that much of each other I've always felt a certain closeness to her, maybe because we're both artists or because neither one of us is afraid to try new things. When she was 60...
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LOVE
SIMPLICITY OF LIFE My parents knew their gold: each other, their six children, and their faith. They tried to live uncluttered lives so that they could have time for what was most important. They didn't busy themselves buying a bigger house, because that would mean working harder to pay the monthly mortgage, doing overtime work...
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REACHING OUT
BAD DAY I was so close to tears. I could feel them just behind my eyelids threatening to spill out any second. I could feel my face crumpling into a little ball, my lip quivering...I needed a friend. I was surrounded by friends, but something was missing. And then I realized. I was having the worst day of my entire life,...
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DEVOTION
FREEDOM Every time I look at myself and think on how much I've gone through, I still hardly believe that I have become the strong person that I am now. The biggest factor I'd like to consider is my relationship with my father. I learned to stand on my own, make decisions on my own because he let me do it. This started in...
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LAUGHTER
MEETING A TEACHER HAS CHANGED MY LIFE I went to high school thinking that Mrs. Davis was going to be our Choir teacher. Boy was I wrong. I went to 7th hour and there the new teacher was — Ms. McPhee. She's always smiling, laughing, having a good old time. She's the kind of woman who does not care who you are, what you look like, how tall you are....
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CARING
TEACHING THE VALUES THAT MATTER MOST Life is unpredictable. Before the start of the summer, I had no idea that I would be a YMCA summer camp counselor. Now, here I am near the end of the summer, finishing up camp. I can't say it's been easy, but it was undoubtedly a beneficial, enjoyable experience for me. The children I helped take care of were...
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LEARNING
THE MAN WHO TAUGHT ME TO CARE My name is Scott and I am 36 years old. I have spent most of my adult life working in an unfulfilling job, and by doing so I had a very cynical view of life and the world around me. I thought that the humane qualities of man had been replaced by materialism and self absorption. Thanks to this jaded view of the...
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COURTESY
FAITH IN FELLOW MEN Last week I was doing my grocery shopping at a local store. I was in a hurry because I had to get to work. I had purchased a package of sports drink and, when checking out, put it on the bottom of the cart. In my haste, I did not put it in my car when I emptied the cart. Later, I went back to the store and the...
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INTEGRITY
RE-ESTABLISHING INTEGRITY I never thought about how important integrity is in life until I was in the middle of some trouble. After I thought about what I did and how foolish it was, I went back to the people I affected negatively and asked to correct the situation. To my surprise, they had positive words to give me and mentioned how...
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EXCELLENCE
SIGNING OFF My Dad was the last of the craftsman - while other's added workers to take on bigger jobs, Dad remained a "business" unto himself, painting homes and hanging wallpaper to the best of his decades of experience. Many times I would be invited to the garage where he would have me guess which paint swatch or...
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REACHING OUT
A SMALL GIFT As a teenager, I worked at a grocery store as a cashier in a local mall. There was a young man who walked around the mall and it didn't look like he had any friends or family. I learned from store owners that he suffered schizophrenia and was pretty much a loner. He was always very polite to me when he came...
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