Heroes are everywhere. We see them battling on the big screen. We see them shooting arrows and running around on our TVs. They make funny remarks as they take down the bad guys in comic books. They also stand by our side as action figures on our bookshelves. The one thing we’re lacking is their presence in the real world. Superheroes don’t exist, but villains do. There have been heroes, they’re just hard to find.

What does it take to be a “hero”? Is a single mother raising three kids on her own a hero? Is a boyfriend who carries his girlfriend to the hospital to get her stomach pumped a hero? Is someone who volunteers at a hospice a hero? Why aren’t these people covered in the media? Yet the media covers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Seung-Hui Cho, James Holmes, and Sylvia Seegrist. Everyone knows the names: Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Timothy McVeigh, David Berkowitz, and Aileen Wuornos. But do you remember the names of the police and firemen who ran into the World Trade Center on 9/11? You remember John Dillinger, but do you know the names of any of the officers who took him down?

In May of 1977, a man named Curtis Sliwa created a group known as the “Magnificent 13”. The “Magnificent 13” was a group of volunteers trying to protect the New York City Subway during a crime wave. That group grew and eventually became the Guardian Angels. The Guardian Angels have now become an international non-profit. All of the members are unarmed and wear the same matching red beret. The Guardian Angels train all their volunteers in combat. Curtis Sliwa was a McDonald’s night manager, and now he has founded an organization that has over 130 chapters worldwide. There have been allegations that Sliwa fabricated many acts of heroism by the Guardian Angels. He also apparently faked kidnappings. There are claims that he wasn’t even the founder of the Guardian Angels but just claimed to be. In 2015, Sliwa got into some trouble for publicly saying he fantasized about having sex with a New York City Council Speaker.

On December 22^nd, 1984, a man named Bernie Goetz stepped onto a subway car at the 14^th Street Station in Manhattan. Four men allegedly tried to rob him. Goetz fired five shots, and severely wounded all four men. One of those men was left paralyzed with brain damage. Bernie Goetz was then known as the “Subway Vigilante”. Some people praised him, and some did the opposite. There were even bumper stickers that said: “Ride with Bernie—he Goetz ‘em!” This incident even inspired Charles Bronson as he did the third installment to his vigilante series: “Death Wish”. Bernie Goetz was charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment, and several gun offenses. He was found not guilty of all charges except for carrying an unlicensed firearm. He was then sentenced to one year in prison. Since then, Goetz has run for public office and sold self-defense weapons online. In 2013, Goetz was arrested on drug charges, but was never convicted.

On May 6^th, 2013, a man named Charles Ramsey gained instant stardom after reportedly rescuing a woman named Amanda Berry from his neighbor’s house. Amanda Berry and two other women were abducted by Ariel Castro and held in captivity for 10 years. Castro repeatedly raped these women, and Amanda Berry bared Castro’s child. As the media told it, Amanda Berry escaped from the basement. While this was going on, Charles Ramsey was at his house eating a Big Mac. Amanda Berry was able to get upstairs and scream for help. Charles Ramsey kicked the door in and pulled Amanda Berry out. They both call 9-1-1. The police then arrived and rescued the other two women. Ramsey became an instant celebrity. He was interviewed by local news, and was interviewed by different networks, including CNN. A viral video was made from “songifying” his initial interview. His quote “I knew something was wrong when I saw a little pretty white girl ran into a black man’s arms. Somethin’ is wrong here. Dead giveway!” became known all over. Charles Ramsey was a hero. He was a regular guy who did the unimaginable. In an interview a year later, Ramsey said he walks around at night looking for “bad dudes who want to snatch another child”. He was given free hamburgers from a local chain, and he gave them out to the homeless. In 2015, Lifetime released a film based on the story titled “Cleveland Abduction”, starring Taryn Manning, Raymond Cruz, and Pam Grier. Ramsey was played by Corey Hendrix. There were four books written about what happened. One of which was by Charles Ramsey himself, entitled: DEAD GIVEWAY: The Rescue, Hamburgers, White Folks, and Instant Celebrity… What You Saw on TV Doesn’t Begin to Tell the Story. Another book was written by Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus. In this book, Amanda Berry says that Charles Ramsey just watched as she broke her way out of the house. She said that she thought to herself, “Why doesn’t he kick it in for me?” Was Charles Ramsey a hero after all?

Heroes are hard to find. Some of them are treated like criminals, are forgotten, or turn out to be false idols. But you don’t have to be a vigilante, start a team of crime fighters, or rescue a girl out of captivity to be a hero. There are heroes everywhere that don’t get the recognition they deserve. It’s not just the doctors, nurses, police, firefighters, paramedics, and activists. Regular people can be heroes. If you help people, protect the ones you care about, do good deeds, let someone cry on your shoulder, or donate to good causes, then you are a hero. If we all just try to do what’s right and help out, then maybe the world can be a better place. As Twisted Sister said: “It don’t matter who you are or what you’ve done. You don’t need a badge or knife or gun. You can be the chosen one.”