Hero: it's one of the heaviest words around.
For me a hero is someone who stands for his beliefs, even againist tough challengers. I met someone like this once: Gino Strada, an Italian surgeon, among the founders of Emergency, a NGO which helps people opening field hospitals in war scenes, or in some of the poorest countries of the globe: Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Cambodia. Often standing againist Western governments, too eager for war; he first reported his eperience in the book Green Parrots (that's the name Afghans gave to landmines).
It has been a public meeting in a crowded hall, but since then, to show my support to his ideals againist war and for mankind, I always go around with a white rag tied to my backpack, or my briefcase.
http://www.emergency.ithttp://www.emergencyusa.org/http://www.emergencyuk.org/