I hope you all don't get sick of my 'Great Men' posts, it's something of an on-going theme on my blog, so I have a lot of them. I feel I'd be remiss if I didn't take the time to share my post on who will always be one of my greatest heroes.

My Brother


"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

-Martin Luther King Jr.

I've got another hero story for you. This one's a little hard for me to tell because it gets a bit personal. One of my greatest heroes of all time is my older brother. We were born a year and a day apart. You wouldn't guess it if you knew me now, but growing up, I was very shy and uncertain. As children, me and my brother were pretty much opposite. Due to being somewhat insecure socially, people tended to percieve me as unfriendly, while my brother was always outgoing and likeable. He was very popular, always funny and fun to be around. When he was 13, a boy moved into some government subsidized apartments that were behind our neighborhood. His family didn't really have any money, so ofcourse his clothes weren't quite up to par to the current standards. He dressed a little different and looked a little different. He was a very talented artist and, as artist tend to do, perhaps acted a little different. One day at school, my brother's best and closest friends, boys he'd grown up with, were being mean to and bullying this kid. Keep in mind that my brother and his friends were the most popular kids in school. I don't know exactly what transpired but my brother told them to leave him alone. He stood up to his friends and defended the kid. He also went further and befriended him. I would like to say that his friends realized the error of their ways and followed my brother's example...but it didn't work out that way. They completely wrote him off as a friend. As my brother insisted on being friends with the boy, they left the boy alone and instead started bullying him. He lost his popularity and all his friends, things that are, for a 13 year old boy, pretty important. I guess he could have gone back to his old friends, apologized and attempted to get back in their good graces. He didn't. I'm sure he knew the price he would have to pay would be to abandon the kid he'd stuck up for. That was something he wasn't willing to do. The boy became his best and only friend. Later that year, my brother died in a tragic accident. Even now, 20 years later, people will tell my mom that his death did more to effect and change them than any other single event in their lives. He died when he was thirteen, before he had the chance to make much of a mark on this world, and although few people outside of the small town I grew up in will ever know his name, I will always consider him to be one of the greatest people I've ever known.

I'm really sorry to hear that.

I don't really know what to say; I'm not used to people telling me one of their family members died...

Peace be with him.

Good thread.

A sad and compelling recall, Kim. May God be with him.

It's o.k., dnx-x1, it was 20 years ago. I ljust ike to share his story because he was the most amazing example to me and those who knew him. He didn't quite make it to being a man, but, in my opinion, he was definitely great.

Thanks, Karl.

It is very sad to lose someone young in life. I too am sorry for your loss. It is nice that you remember him this way.

I second Julie's post - it's good to keep those happy & positive memories... it keeps him alive of sort.

Thanks, Julie and Karl.

It seems despite your brothers tender years, he had the strength of moral conviction one might normally attribute to an older more journeyed 'considered soul' - to defend what he saw as right regardless of any division such a stance might create between him and his friends.

You should be proud of such a brother, to have risked something that even so many adults are afraid to confront, that is, the behaviour/hypocrisy of friends and relatives that so often goes unchallenged, yet contradictorily making others accountable for similar or lesser infringements due to a lack of familiarity or nepotistic affiliation highlights a moral hypocrisy!.

It's true, it's easy to make bold statements of pious intent. However, adhering vigorously to your conviction regardless of outcome is another thing altogether, something to which sadly escapes the majority of the morally vacuous masses who inhabit a poisoned earth of their own construction.

Without such virtuous people it wouldn't be any exaggeration to state that society fractures, it ruptures morally, and so begins a descent into anarchy as a result. A moral vanguard in society has always been a neccessary requirement to usurp the ill intentions of the few that so overwhelmingly affect the many.

I agree. My brothers and I were all taught to never compromise our values, to stand up for and do what is right, even when if it means losing much. I teach my children the same thing, but it's hard, unless you've actually been there, to know if you'd have the strength to truly sacrifice for your convictions.

Sounds like your family and kids are the necessary bedrock any true democracy requires.