1. HERO DEFINED 1
Hero Defined
Rebecca Canterbury
BS Sociology
Post University
September 14, 2014
Post University and the Commission on Institutions of Higher
Education New England Association of Schools and College University’s
accreditation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges
(NEASC), in The Malcolm Baldrige School of Business at Post University
are nationally accredited by the Accreditation Council for Business
Schools and Programs (ACBSP) would like to present REBECCA
CANTERBURY with the highest excellence in Sociology
with this Bachelor’s level paper “Hero Defined” published with
permission on September 14, 2014.

2. HERO DEFINED 2
I’ve never recognized a hero in my life. I often thought of this as a “guy thing” and viewing the
sample provided proves my theory….guys always say, “Oh, he’s my hero!” and as a woman, there isn’t
often that comparison.
In pondering this question the last few days, I began to think of why this is when there have
been so many strong women that changed history. Am I that selfish that I don’t have a hero? And
although I could name names and quote quotes of women that inspire me, I think the woman that is
fighting breast cancer and shows up for a PTA Meeting….the women that have carried children for 9
months and had them violently taken from their bodies in the form of surgery or a body passing through
another’s body…….the women that have gone through great procedures to have children………..mothers
who have lost children……..little girls who lost their mothers through death or a lack of
forgiveness…..and the little old ladies in retail that we get so frustrated with, but as you stand in line and
realize this 70 year old woman is working in retail, not by choice, but because she has to in order to
survive because she was a stay at home mom with no job skills to offer, widowed with little life
insurance, if any, etc…..and I humbly realize that the line should move at her pace and feel somewhat
honored to stand in it. These are the results of my quick query as why women are less likely to shout
out a fictional character, when there are so many real heroes, historically and walking among us.
I will say that I had a very strong paternal grandmother that I think of often and miss the wisdom
that she provided in simple statements……”Now Becky, if you complain about everything, no one will
ever really know what is important to you”…..or “Remember to treat those you profess to love better
than strangers. It gets very easy to take those we love for granted.” She was a kind woman and
volunteered at the library several times a week reading books and putting them on audio tapes for blind
people. She was always the first to make cookies for a new neighbor or take food to the family that just
had a baby or experienced a loss. She was very kind and very wise. And I know that part of her lives

3. HERO DEFINED 3
within me as I experience her wisdom and kind soul standing in the slowest moving line in retail and can
be humbled by the experience.
I also was very fortunate to have a good father, but was too naive to realize it until after he died
very unexpectedly of a heart attack at the age of 54. I was 27 at the time and realized that if I lived as
long as my dad, my life was half over at that exact moment. But I had always resented him because he
was very strict with me, to the point of having an alarm clock next to his bed and my one and only job as
a teenager was to be home to shut it off before it woke him up or he’d promise to come lookin’ for me.
I resented that my mom was physically and verbally abusive to me and he allowed it (in my mind) to
happen. It wasn’t until my own children began to have curfews that I understood the worry and love
that comes with being a parent and wanting to know that they are safe. It wasn’t until my dad died and
I was going through his papers and came across a divorce decree dated 1976, when he divorced my
mom and found his way back to the marriage that I never knew was troubled. It was then that I realized
that in 1976 dad’s didn’t get custody of little girls and I knew he stayed in the marriage to provide a
home he believed in, despite his own happiness…..for me. Posthumously I began to find the hero in my
dad and regret that I was unable to articulate it to him, but then I realize that I don’t think he would
have been comfortable with the recognition, he did what he did to be true to himself and didn’t seek
the recognition in the same way the little old lady in retail doesn’t expect us to understand why her’s is
the slowest moving line.
So I ask myself, per this assignment and nearly daily through personal growth, what defines me.
And I find the answer not to be too surprising…..that my defining moments in someone else’s life is what
defines me.

4. HERO DEFINED 4
Understanding. A smile. A random act of kindness. A handwritten thank you note. Eye contact
with a homeless person. Unconditional love to my children. Patience in traffic. Prayers for people I
don’t know in Gaza.
As far as achieving goals in my life, I’ve already surpassed much more than I ever thought I was
capable of. It sounds egotistical really and I acknowledge that, but we don’t often take time to realize
that there is a hero in each of us, individually. The things we’ve overcome in our lives. The challenges
we’ve taken on. Each of us in this class working to improve ourselves despite our other commitments in
life as parents and employees and companions. It’s hard, no doubt, but my dad always said, “Life ain’t
fair” and again as I aged and found some wisdom, I realized that life isn’t fair, but it isn’t fair for
everyone, which kinda makes it fair for all of us. We all have our struggles and demons and life ain’t
fair, but what we do with it is what makes a difference.
So in spewing this all out, I would most definitely have to profess that my motivation to pursue
my Bachelor’s Degree is intrinsic because I wouldn’t expect some or even most of you to understand the
seemingly selfish statement of what being my own hero means to me. I wouldn’t expect others to pick
the slowest line of the oldest lady in the store behind a cash register just because there’s some honor in
supporting her to me, and I’m okay with that, which makes my motivation continual and personal and
most definitely intrinsic.