by Ashley Smith

Created on: May 25, 2009   Last Updated: June 01, 2009

Real life heroes are people who do heroic things in an emergency or as part of their everyday job. That could the fireman who goes into the burning building when everyone is running out, it could be the ambulance person who goes in to a crumbling building to treat the injured. It could also be someone who has never done anything before in their life but reacts quickly and without thought when needed. These are heroes and are those that everyone should consider before sportsmen and celebrities who have in the main done very little. In order to explain my point i will list some of my personal heroes in order to explain how I separate celebrities from the rest.

1/ FLEUR LOMBARD

Fleur was a firefighter who was one of the first female firefighters to operate on front line duties. Although physically smaller then most of the men she did the job as well as anyone and did the job well until she was called to a fire at a supermarket near where i used to live. It turned out that a bored security guard decided to start a fire so he could play hero by rescuing people. The fire got out of control and the fire brigade had to take over. The supermarket was quite large and had a club above it. Fleur went in but was hurt when a ceiling collapsed on her and a senior male firefighter. She died from her injuries and is now remembered in a memorial across the road.

2/GWEN MAYOR

Gwen was a teacher at Dunblane primary school in Scotland. She had been in the job for many years and was well regarded. When local man Thomas Hamilton entered the school and began shooting she took her charges to one side in her class and tried to use her body to protect them. Tragically she died along with sixteen children, though its hard to prove it seems her selfless act may have prevented further deaths.

3/LIFEBOAT OPERATORS

In Britain the people who work the off shore and in shore lifeboats are in the main volunteers who leave their normal and safe land jobs in order to race out to sea at all hours of the day and night. By its nature most of the time the job involves fighting through high seas and storms to attempt to rescue people. They will be going out without question and will risk their lives every single time they go. They wont know if they will face a small boat or a large ship, they don't know if they will be searching for survivors or for bodies but still they go. Of course they go do all this after working all day and before working the next day at their own job.

These are three of many people and groups that i think of as heroes, there are more but none are famous and none are celebrities although perhaps they should be.

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