There are heroes amongst us now-not firemen running into burning, collapsing buildings, perhaps, but ordinary people who by their courage and compassion inspire others. The Giraffe Heroes Project finds these heroes (we call them "Giraffes") and tells their stories on our website, in schools, in our books and in the media. They're young and old, male and female, and from every ethnic and economic background. They're working on every problem you can think of, from environmental pollution to government corruption, from discrimination to poverty, from homelessness to gang violence.
Giraffes are people like Casey Ruud, a safety inspector who put his job on the line when he refused to ignore dangerous violations at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State. Hazel Wolf was a Giraffe who stuck her neck out speaking truth to power and spurring the powerless to action on environmental and other issues in the Pacific Northwest. "Neto" Villareal, a star high school football player in a football-crazy town, risked his athletic future when he led Latino players in a football boycott in order to stop racist taunts from fans.
Our storytelling works. People who see or hear about Giraffes are inspired to take on the challenges they see, from cleaning up a wetland to cleaning up a city council. The Giraffe Heroes Project is helping cultivate the ground where heroes can grow, be appreciated, and lead. You can do the same, by acknowledging the heroes you see, and getting their stories told on the Internet, in letters to the editor-any way you can. Under all the distractions of our lives there is still something that recognizes our need for heroes, and for the heroic values that have always been a part of the American story, the American ethic.
Finding the heroes outside is important. But so is finding the hero within. For me that chance first came at the US Mission to the United Nations. As a young diplomat in 1980, I risked my career by secretly organizing global pressure against my own government to help end apartheid in South Africa. That experience was like learning to swim. I couldn't forget what I'd done or how to do it. I couldn't forget the joy and fulfillment I felt in making a difference like that.
Being a hero doesn't have to mean shifting global policies, saving hundreds of lives or blowing the whistle on some huge crime. Most heroes are very ordinary people who see a problem, large or small, near or distant, and have the courage and commitment to take it on.
All of us see such opportunities around us every day, opportunities to act with courage and caring to solve a public problem-to make things better for other people-if only in small and quiet ways. The more years that pass from that experience at the United Nations, the more I realize that spotting these opportunities and acting on them is key to a meaningful life. The biggest mistake any of us can make is to ignore this quest, to just look out for Number One, to grow up and live and die without every having made a positive difference on the world around us.
What are your opportunities? What can you do with your talents, your experience, your resources? In this dangerous, conforming, buck-passing age, where can you be the kind of model this country needs? Pay attention to that still small voice that says, or may someday say to you: "Hey, hear me through all the uproar and clutter and pressures of your life. This opportunity to be a hero-this one right in front of you-is important, to others and to you. Stick your neck out. Take it on."
John Graham
Copyright 2006 John Graham jgraham@whidbey.com
Previous Stick Your Neck Out pieces available on request:
#1 "Policies as Good as Our People" (fighting global terrorism takes more than guns)
#2 "Dead Sons and Long Memories" (the seeds of Palestinian anger)
#3 "Go Seahawks!" (how the war imagery in pro football is poisoning our culture)
#4 "War, Leadership and a Moral Life" (speech at U.S. Air Force and Naval Academies)
#5 "Who's Watching the Watch List" (civil liberties under assault)
#6 "God and Politics" (what must be done to take our country back)
Books by John Graham
Outdoor Leadership (Seattle: The Mountaineers Books, 1997. To order: http://www.mountaineersbooks.org/)
It's Up to Us: The Giraffe Heroes Program for Teens (Langley WA: The Giraffe Heroes Project, 1999. To order: http://www.giraffe.org/ed_uptous.html)
Stick Your Neck Out; A Street-smart Guide to Creating Change in Your Community and Beyond (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2005. To order: http://www.giraffe.org/1speeches_syno.html)
Giraffes are people like Casey Ruud, a safety inspector who put his job on the line when he refused to ignore dangerous violations at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State. Hazel Wolf was a Giraffe who stuck her neck out speaking truth to power and spurring the powerless to action on environmental and other issues in the Pacific Northwest. "Neto" Villareal, a star high school football player in a football-crazy town, risked his athletic future when he led Latino players in a football boycott in order to stop racist taunts from fans.
Our storytelling works. People who see or hear about Giraffes are inspired to take on the challenges they see, from cleaning up a wetland to cleaning up a city council. The Giraffe Heroes Project is helping cultivate the ground where heroes can grow, be appreciated, and lead. You can do the same, by acknowledging the heroes you see, and getting their stories told on the Internet, in letters to the editor-any way you can. Under all the distractions of our lives there is still something that recognizes our need for heroes, and for the heroic values that have always been a part of the American story, the American ethic.
Finding the heroes outside is important. But so is finding the hero within. For me that chance first came at the US Mission to the United Nations. As a young diplomat in 1980, I risked my career by secretly organizing global pressure against my own government to help end apartheid in South Africa. That experience was like learning to swim. I couldn't forget what I'd done or how to do it. I couldn't forget the joy and fulfillment I felt in making a difference like that.
All of us see such opportunities around us every day, opportunities to act with courage and caring to solve a public problem-to make things better for other people-if only in small and quiet ways. The more years that pass from that experience at the United Nations, the more I realize that spotting these opportunities and acting on them is key to a meaningful life. The biggest mistake any of us can make is to ignore this quest, to just look out for Number One, to grow up and live and die without every having made a positive difference on the world around us.
What are your opportunities? What can you do with your talents, your experience, your resources? In this dangerous, conforming, buck-passing age, where can you be the kind of model this country needs? Pay attention to that still small voice that says, or may someday say to you: "Hey, hear me through all the uproar and clutter and pressures of your life. This opportunity to be a hero-this one right in front of you-is important, to others and to you. Stick your neck out. Take it on."
John Graham
Copyright 2006 John Graham jgraham@whidbey.com
Previous Stick Your Neck Out pieces available on request:
#1 "Policies as Good as Our People" (fighting global terrorism takes more than guns)
#2 "Dead Sons and Long Memories" (the seeds of Palestinian anger)
#3 "Go Seahawks!" (how the war imagery in pro football is poisoning our culture)
#4 "War, Leadership and a Moral Life" (speech at U.S. Air Force and Naval Academies)
#5 "Who's Watching the Watch List" (civil liberties under assault)
#6 "God and Politics" (what must be done to take our country back)
Books by John Graham
Outdoor Leadership (Seattle: The Mountaineers Books, 1997. To order: http://www.mountaineersbooks.org/)
It's Up to Us: The Giraffe Heroes Program for Teens (Langley WA: The Giraffe Heroes Project, 1999. To order: http://www.giraffe.org/ed_uptous.html)
Stick Your Neck Out; A Street-smart Guide to Creating Change in Your Community and Beyond (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2005. To order: http://www.giraffe.org/1speeches_syno.html)
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