Everyone's a Hero in their own way...

It’s no secret to anyone that I love Miyazaki movies, especially “The Secret World of Arrietty.”  To briefly describe this movie to you, it’s about Borrowers (little people) who get discovered and have to move.  There is one scene in particular that I absolutely love.  It is where the Borrower Arrietty talks to her human friend Shawn.

Shawn: “You must be afraid to be the only ones of your kind. Every year there is fewer and fewer of you. Aren’t you scared that you all will soon be gone?”

Arrietty: “What a horrible thing to say! I know there’s more of us because Spiller said so!”

Shawn: “Who’s Spiller?”

Arrietty: “He’s one of us. He lives out in the forest. He said that there is hundreds more of us.”

Shawn: “That might be true. But none of us can live forever can we? We all have to die sometime.”

Arrietty: “Why would you say something like that?”

Shawn: “Because it’s true.

Arrietty: “I guess so.”

Shawn: “Believe me. I know what I’m talking about. Sometimes things happen to us that are just beyond our control. And when these things happen there’s really nothing you can really do about it.  You just accept it and prepare for the worst. I wish it wasn’t that way. But you can’t live a life that’s built upon nothing but wishes. I mean it’s impractical.  Sometimes you just have to accept the hand of fate.”

Arrietty: “Oh no you don’t.  Sometimes you have to stand up and fight for the things worth fighting for.  You have to survive.  That’s what my papa says.  So we’re leaving even though it’s dangerous.  And we are going to survive.  We’re Borrowers and we’ll make do. We always have.  As long as we have each other to live for, we’ll keep on living.”

Shawn: “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.  I’m actually the one who’s going to die.  There’s something wrong with my heart.  They’re going to operate next week, but, it probably won’t help.”

Arrietty: “That’s terrible.”

Shawn: “I’ve always been sick and had someone looking after me.  And that’s why when I saw you I just wanted to find a way to protect you.”

Shawn was someone who felt helpless, and wanted to go help save someone the best way he knew how.  He was trying to be a hero in his own way.

Back near the beginning of this year I encountered a child that has left an impression on me.  This one day I was just listening to what kids were saying to each other.  Another child leaned over and read this dear five-year-old’s shirt out loud.  It said, “Cancer is a terrible hair stylist.”  The other child jokingly said, “What? Do you have Cancer?”  She quietly responded with, “I do.”  I froze and told the other child that he shouldn’t talk any more about it.  The curiosity got to me and I started to ask her questions.  

Me: What kind of cancer is it?

Her: I don’t know.  It’s in my tummy.

Me: Did you go through kemo?

Her: Yeah.

Me: Did you lose your hair?

Her: Yeah.

Me: That must have sucked.

Her: It did.  I got rid of it when I was four.

She then looked down and then looked up with a big smile.

Her: I got to go home on Christmas!

My heart melted for her at that point.  She had gone through so much and she is only FIVE! I complain about the little things in life and she has experienced so much worse.  I was at that point that I decided that I could do something for her…  So, I did something in honor of her…

Wait for it…

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I CUT MY HAIR!  

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It took awhile to grow it out, and I finally cut it this past Saturday so I can donate it to Locks of Love.

I’m still trying to get used to the length... 

I now leave you with, everyone’s a hero in their own way…