Our Heroes
Hi,
An ad in the Southern Star nudged my train of thought for this post. Who are our heroes? How do we identify them? What makes a hero?
Those questions, I'm sure, aren't in a logical order and having recently attended a food safety course led by Denis Kiely, SQT-Training, I should have a better grasp of this word, logic, and it's step by step thought process. But bear with me, I'm long in the tooth; suffice to say that I left the training knowing a lot more and knowing that I need to know a lot more!!! A sign of a really good course.
But back to my original topic:- Hero.
It's a word that packs a punch. You don't call everyone you meet a hero and yet if we look hard enough, there are heroes to be found everywhere and most of them don't actually wear the word emblazoned on their backs or have halo's glowing brightly over their heads.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a hero is 'A person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.'
I don't think any young person looks at career options and ticks the 'hero' box. For most, it's foisted on them.
So I'm looking at the Southern Star ad asking all readers to submit their Hero nominations. In my food focused world in West Cork, there are a plethora of heroes:- Sally Barnes of Woodcock Smokery is head and shoulders above many; the late Veronica Steele of Milleens was an inspiration to me when times are tough as they inevitably are in everyone's life; Jeffa Gill of Durrus Cheese & Gianna Ferguson of Gubbeen; Bill Hogan - trail blazers all, who have inspired so many others to start or continue as artisan food producers. Some have decided that the drudgery of artisan production isn't for them and have scaled up; some, like us, look at our lifestyles and believe that we are so fortunate being able to make a living producing the best quality food we can in the place we love to live.
But West Cork isn't just about food, although, I believe, we produce some of the very best quality available anywhere in the world, we are also communities, big and small, rural and urban, with many volunteers making things happen locally. West Cork Rapid Response springs immediately to mind closely followed by the amazing people in R.N.L.I. stations all around our coast and now in inland waters as well.
Everywhere I look, there are heroes and 'In our world of big names, curiously, our true heroes tend to be anonymous. In this life of illusion and quasi-illusion, the person of solid virtues who can be admired for something more substantial than his well-knownness often proves to be the unsung hero: the teacher, the nurse, the mother, the honest cop, the hard worker at lonely, underpaid, unglamorous, unpublicized jobs.' Daniel J. Boorstin
I have read and re-read this quotation but it is still too wordy, so finally, I went online and did a bit more delving and surfing. In a brief few words, I think CNN has the most accurate description of a hero in today's world:- 'Everyday people doing extraordinary things to change the world.' Don't forget to enter your nominations for our West Cork Heroes in the Southern Star - I'm sure more than one nomination is allowed.
Finally, if you're in West Cork on Saturday, 7th April, and are a coeliac or know someone who is, please book your seat at the Coeliac Afternoon Tea in The Celtic Ross Hotel at 3pm. Prior booking is essential and bookings should be made to the hotel. The cost is €15 per person.
An ad in the Southern Star nudged my train of thought for this post. Who are our heroes? How do we identify them? What makes a hero?
Those questions, I'm sure, aren't in a logical order and having recently attended a food safety course led by Denis Kiely, SQT-Training, I should have a better grasp of this word, logic, and it's step by step thought process. But bear with me, I'm long in the tooth; suffice to say that I left the training knowing a lot more and knowing that I need to know a lot more!!! A sign of a really good course.
But back to my original topic:- Hero.
It's a word that packs a punch. You don't call everyone you meet a hero and yet if we look hard enough, there are heroes to be found everywhere and most of them don't actually wear the word emblazoned on their backs or have halo's glowing brightly over their heads.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a hero is 'A person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.'
I don't think any young person looks at career options and ticks the 'hero' box. For most, it's foisted on them.
So I'm looking at the Southern Star ad asking all readers to submit their Hero nominations. In my food focused world in West Cork, there are a plethora of heroes:- Sally Barnes of Woodcock Smokery is head and shoulders above many; the late Veronica Steele of Milleens was an inspiration to me when times are tough as they inevitably are in everyone's life; Jeffa Gill of Durrus Cheese & Gianna Ferguson of Gubbeen; Bill Hogan - trail blazers all, who have inspired so many others to start or continue as artisan food producers. Some have decided that the drudgery of artisan production isn't for them and have scaled up; some, like us, look at our lifestyles and believe that we are so fortunate being able to make a living producing the best quality food we can in the place we love to live.
But West Cork isn't just about food, although, I believe, we produce some of the very best quality available anywhere in the world, we are also communities, big and small, rural and urban, with many volunteers making things happen locally. West Cork Rapid Response springs immediately to mind closely followed by the amazing people in R.N.L.I. stations all around our coast and now in inland waters as well.
Everywhere I look, there are heroes and 'In our world of big names, curiously, our true heroes tend to be anonymous. In this life of illusion and quasi-illusion, the person of solid virtues who can be admired for something more substantial than his well-knownness often proves to be the unsung hero: the teacher, the nurse, the mother, the honest cop, the hard worker at lonely, underpaid, unglamorous, unpublicized jobs.' Daniel J. Boorstin
I have read and re-read this quotation but it is still too wordy, so finally, I went online and did a bit more delving and surfing. In a brief few words, I think CNN has the most accurate description of a hero in today's world:- 'Everyday people doing extraordinary things to change the world.' Don't forget to enter your nominations for our West Cork Heroes in the Southern Star - I'm sure more than one nomination is allowed.
Finally, if you're in West Cork on Saturday, 7th April, and are a coeliac or know someone who is, please book your seat at the Coeliac Afternoon Tea in The Celtic Ross Hotel at 3pm. Prior booking is essential and bookings should be made to the hotel. The cost is €15 per person.
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