by Jonathan Huie

Created on: February 01, 2009

My Personal Greatest Hero - Jimmy Yen

Who do we most respect and admire? Why our Heroes of course. What are the characteristics of a Hero? Heroes are courageous and self-reliant, and they are greatly admired. Being courageous and self-reliant are the characteristics that create heroes. Being admired is something that comes afterward.

Name a genuine Hero who followed the crowd? It's a crazy question, because Heroes don't follow the crowd. A hero may or may not lead other people, but all heroes lead themselves. Heroes are self confident independent thinkers who make courageous choices. By committing their entire focus to their goals, Heroes leave no time or energy for worry or self-inflicted emotional suffering. Heroism is a path to a joyful life as well as to inspired service.

Want to be a Hero, just pick one to emulate - WRONG. To be heroic, don't emulate a hero, learn from one. Heroes don't follow anyone, they set their own course.

At the end of this article there is an exercise for considering your own greatest hero and which of their qualities inspire you.

Y. C. James (Jimmy) Yen (Yan Yangchu): (1893-1990) - Charismatic Visionary, Humanitarian, and Educator

An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come. - Victor Hugo

Go to the people
Live among them
Learn from them
Love them
Serve them
Plan with them
Start with what they know
Build on what they have. - Jimmy Yen

A leader is most effective when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, his troops will feel they did it themselves. - Lao Tzu

My personal Greatest Hero is Jimmy Yen. You have probably never heard of Jimmy Yen - most Americans haven't. Not that he went without recognition. The novelist Pearl Buck wrote his biography. Time magazine wrote about him, and Reader's Digest wrote about him several times - once as a feature article. In 1943, Jimmy Yen received the prestigious Copernican award as one of 10 highly influential "modern revolutionaries" including Albert Einstein, Orville Wright, Walt Disney, and Henry Ford. He also received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding in 1960, and in 1983 he received the Eisenhower Medallion of the People-to-People Foundation for his 'exceptional' contribution to world peace and understanding.

Jimmy Yen was a very unassuming man who never sought personal recognition or glory. He didn't start out with a huge vision, either. His greatest commitments were to his wife, his strong Christian faith, and to the

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