Seeking Heroes

I eagerly awaited the public screening of 武俠 (Wu Xia), an action flick from Hong Kong. It was not because I wanted to watch Donnie Yen, the hottest action movie star.

I wanted to catch 王羽(Jimmy Wang Yu), my old time hero in action again. He had finally agreed to come out of retirement to act in this movie.

I have to confess I have watched almost every single one of Wang Yu’s movies. Some of the scenes from ‘The One-Armed Swordsman’ that shot him to fame are still clear in my mind.

I will never forget the stormy romance of Silver Roc (Wang Yu) in ‘Golden Swallow’. And of course the final fighting scene in ‘The Chinese Boxer’ between Lei Ming (Wang Yu) and Kitashima (Lo Lieh).

I am willing to argue with any movie buff that it was ‘The Chinese Boxer’ that launched the genre of unarmed martial arts movies.

Without Wang Yu, Chinese films would not have probably gone around the world. There might not be stars like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, or Donnie Yen.

Wang Yu was one of the heroes in my youth.

While reflecting on this part of my life, this thought came into my mind. We need to have heroes in our lives.

We stop having heroes not because we grow old. We will grow old if we stop having heroes.

In fact, idolizing heroes is one of the pillars of successful individuals, organizations and countries.

We remember fondly the heroes who have contributed to our success. And if we stop having new heroes, the bedrock of our success may be shaken.

Heroes  promote a stronger desire for more heroic acts in our midst.

Heroes are reflections of our desire to turn a dream into a reality. They helped to define us and our visions.

We model after heroes and their inspiration fuel our motivation to achieve success.

We admire their stand against the tide of their times and the way they defy overwhelming odds.

They have flaws, failed and fallen – but they rose again to make history and leave meaningful legacies for us.

 Heroes show us that we can achieve far more than we can ever dream or imagine.

We need to bring heroes back into our lives.

Who are your heroes?