A few everyday heroes |
“Title
Pretty Much Says It”
A Review of Everyday Heroes by Nick Olszyk
MPAA Rating, NR
USCCB Rating, NR
Reel Rating, Four Reels
Disclaimer: Everyday Heroes
will premiere on ABC on Sunday, May 19th. Check your local listings
for times.
In 21st century
America, the term “hero” usually conjures up images of supernatural abilities
and excessive
high box office receipts. Yet while few of us know any metahumans or even
the actors who play them, nearly everyone can name a schoolteacher who inspired
them or a parent who taught them something important. Everyday Heroes, a television documentary produced by the Knight of
Columbus, makes the bold claim that not only do true heroes exist but are all
around us. They highlight about a dozen examples but there are surely many
millions more.
The filmmakers do an
excellent job finding a wide variety of men as proof of heroism. There’s an
11-year-old boy who, during Puerto Rico’s recent hurricane, organized relief
for an abbey in the wildness, cut off from the city without water or power.
Another example is Joe Reali, who gave up a promising football career to care
for an ill relative and had thousands attend his funeral. One of my personal favorites
is a group of seminarians who, out of love for music and God, form a worship
band. The film spends the last half interviewing several prominent sports
figures, some of whom rise to great fame and fortune, others who give it all up
to serve the church as clergy. Many, though not all, of these men are Knights
themselves, and the program is hosted by the organization’s Supreme Knight Carl
Anderson. The film is brief (roughly an hour) and well-paced. Unlike a
traditional documentary with a set narrative, the style is more akin to the
Book of Psalms or Proverbs, a series of short vignettes that collectively makes
a compelling call to arms: everyone can be hero.
One of the joys of Everyday Heroes – and indeed the Knights
themselves – is its complete lack of political divisiveness. There is no larger
legislative agenda, and the film refuses to synchronize to the frequency of
social media discourse. There are moments that could be construed as “liberal,”
such as the volunteers and participants in the Special Olympics or the Canadian
council that sponsors a family of Syrian refugees. There are moments that some
might consider “conservative,” such as the inclusion of military families,
including a veteran who leads a pilgrimage to Lourdes and a young man who dies
in Iraq. Everyday Heroes rises above
such shallow labels and instead remains fiercely loyal to the values of Jesus
Christ: self-sacrifice for one’s friends and helping the least in our world.
There’s no strong
“message” to Everyday Heroes beyond
the stated theme of the title, but the film does contain a gentle warning
towards the end. It concludes with a famous quote from John Adams: “the
Constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate
to the government of any other.” Even in the late 18th century,
Adams recognized that laws are only as good as the people who enforced them and
can change on a whim if the people loose themselves. Our society will only
function if each individual citizen is willing to take up the mantle of heroism
and do what is right. This includes all the theological and cardinal virtues,
chiefly that everyone deserves care and respect. Although I really do hate the
phrase, it is clearly a “message our time needs.”
As I was watching the
film, I thought about my own life. I’m not a professional baseball player, I’ve
never been in the armed forces, and I’ve never faced a natural disaster. How
could I possibly be like any of these men? Then I thought about my two sons.
There will never be a more important figure in their life than me. Only I can
teach them what it means to be a man, and I don’t need to do anything
extraordinary to do that. I can pray with them for five minutes instead of
searching for nick-knacks on my phone. I can play Legos with them instead of
watching television. We are all called to be heroes, and if we want a better
world, we must.
This article first appeared in Catholic World Report on May 17th, 2019.
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