What Makes a World Hero of Peace?

Heroes of Peace Values

What is a Hero? (our definition)

A hero deliberately and courageously overcomes obstacles for the benefit of others without regard to consequences.

Therefore, embrace obstacles as opportunities for growth, for obstacles conquered for the benefit of others are the only qualifying credentials of heroes and a measure of one's true leadership.

Why do we need heroes?

We all need inspirational heroes as role models for our lives, businesses, and family values. Unfortunately, today's  heroes are often sports figures, celebrities, and rock stars whose lives are laced with controversy as well as frequent appearances in our over-crowed court rooms. Our young adults, however, need exemplary heroes with proven values demonstrating respect for their fellow humans. They need to witness conflict resolution practices ending in peaceful solutions with dignity and respect being preserved for all sides. They need to understand and value a work ethic showing the rewards for diligence and quality coupled with the many benefits of continuing our education throughout our lives.  Forgiveness should preside over revenge, but today this isn't true. Tolerance should rule over frivolous law suits, but news media reports imply the opposite. Acceptance and learning from another's diversity should easily outshine the dull embers of prejudice, but they do not. Armed with the weapons of excellence, dignity, and endurance, we teach others the awesome potential of being human through self-leadership and conflict-resolution by peaceful means. This is what we do.

Heroes of peace

We found heroes of peace all have a similar value system employing the same quality, human characteristics. This was discovered during an extensive 5-year study into the problem solving and conflict resolution abilities of the Tuskegee Airmen. Other heroes crusading for peace using passive excellence as their tools of persuasion were then added to the study. All these wonderful role models mirrored each other's value system indicating common characteristics of human goodness universally used to fight for peace, righteousness, and human dignity. From these findings the Modeling Future Heroes' value system was developed.

Our selected list of heroes

Our inspiring research revealed the following heroes from which we partially developed our course material. There are other wonderful heroes of peace, but to keep our diverse list from being too large, we selected our heroes from the following:

Famous world heroes of peace used in this course:

1. Susan B. Anthony

2. Jimmy Carter

3. George Washington Carver

4. César Estrada Chávez

5. Shirin Ebadi

6. Albert Einstein

7. Mahatma Gandhi

8. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

9. Abraham Lincoln

10. Nelson Mandela

11. Rigoberta Menchu

12. Rosa Parks

13. Florence Nightingale

14. Sonia Pierre

15. Eleanor Roosevelt

16. Ginetta Sagan

17. Princess Dianna Spencer

18. Albert Schweitzer

19. Aung San Suukyi

20. Wangari Maathai

21. Mother Teresa

22. The Tuskegee Airmen and Women

23. Desmond Mpilo Tutu

24. Booker T. Washington

25. William Wilberforce

Lesser-Known Heroes

A Practical Application of Human Values. a text book being written for our course of the same name, and the Modeling Future Heroes Mission Statement were both derived from the result of this research.  Modeling Future Heroes is the company name used as a vehicle to promote and encourage others to embrace this revolutionary material.

To view the researched values from our hero's of peace go to Heroes of Peace Values page. To view these values with supporting quotations from these heroes go to Heroes of Peace Quotations page.

Grass-Roots Heroes

Students with low self-esteem often respond negatively to the inspirational stories and accomplishments of our selected heroes. Many of these students believe they are not privileged to either the advantages or opportunities enjoyed by our selected role models. As an example, a student might say, Yes, Nelson Mandela was poor, but he had political connections that opened doors for his career. I do not have these political connections.

To help combat these negative attitudes, several other heroes were researched that do not appear on the above list.  This second list contains heroes that currently exist and are often living and/or working in ghettoes without electricity and or water. It was necessary to find heroes of great accomplishments that have far fewer assets and advantages than the poorest student in our inner city today. Then a enlightening realization occurs when today's low self-esteem student realizes he/she has far more assets, opportunities, and advantages than many of these great heroes. The student then sees many unrealized possibilities, becomes encouraged, develops determination, and looks toward the future with hope.  It's a wonderful transition to witness.

Who are these special grass-roots heroes heroes?

Our selected heroes working with underprivileged humanity are:

1. ACE

2. Claw Lady

3. Flower Man

4. Gangsters

5. General

6. Glenys

7. Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah

8. Jane
    

Important Related Links to Our Activities

The Hiram College Home Page

Sparrow Village - the World-Famous Hospice for AIDS Children

The Rotary Club of Aurora, Ohio Home Page

The Tuskegee Airmen Home Page - North Coast Chapter

It's Never Your Fault - a Website for kids who have been traumatized by abuse

Roger Cram email