Recently I overheard someone say, “you are not a hero maker.” The comment immediately got my attention for many reasons. I was curious what a hero maker was and what it took to make one? I was also intrigued by what standards one was measured by to determine if he/she was a hero maker? I sensed there was something worthwhile hidden within the comment, perhaps a secret prize of some sort.
Wonder – The official definition of wonder is a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.
I initially found the two words a bit at odds with one another. Is there an adverse relationship between wonder and resilience? In an effort to be resilient, do I risk losing (or gaining) a sense of wonder? Does a sense of wonder undermine the desire to be resilient? What is a healthy relationship between wonder and resilience? The more I thought about these things the more I began to see the correlation between resilience and wonder. I would simply say that wonder gives resilience its why.
A hero is someone whose character has been forged over a long period of time, and we often notice a consistent sense of wonder. This wonder compels them to develop the resilient skills and know how to explore the wonder. For example, think of the Wright brothers who had a compelling sense of wonder to fly, yet, through a lot of trial and error, built a craft that demonstrated the resilience to actually accomplish the dream. World explorers, inventors, human rights activists, philanthropists, and even parents all demonstrate a sense of wonder that requires the necessary resilience to realize the dream.
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