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One of the words that caught my eye recently was 'Hero'. It seems that with a little effort, anyone can be a hero: Footballers, TV stars, Someone with something that you needed right now. ("You're a hero; thank you!") or even a have-a-go-hero.

Yet it seems like the content or the signified event attached to that word seems to have changed over the years.

I was looking back through my family memorabilia and noticed my Grandfather's photo. He joined the Army as a boy entrant in 1912 when the uniform was still red and white. He was at Ypres amonst other places in Belgium and Northern France and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the Military Medal TWICE, mentioned in dispatches and had many campaign medals. During a second world war air raid he climbed up into the roof space and cooled a bomb with water to prevent it from exploding.

We don't know exactly how Grandad gained his medals, as he didn't want to talk about it whilst he was still with us, but we suspect that the situations were very slightly more arduous than scoring a couple of goals or providing someone with a drink when one needed it.

As Ricky Gervais once said; "The Great War wasn't that great." (which signifies another change of a meaning of yet another word).

I suspect therefore, that my definition or meaning of 'hero' may well be different to many others.

I just wanted to share my meaning with you.

Steve

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