Who are your personal heroes?
Who do you consider great leaders? (or one person is fine)
Why?

One personal hero of mine is a very elderly Japanese woman whose name I will never know. She gave me dignity in Japan when a group of middle-aged women sat and cattily talked about me in Japanese. Unknowingly (and even now, I don't know WHAT happened), I offended them when I answered a question they asked me. She said nothing and came over and sat with me. Of course, there are more details to this story - but, I'm attempting brevity.

Great leaders in my mind: Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Theresa, Helen Keller, Vaclav Havil (sp?), Princess Diana (as a social icon using power in the most humanitarian ways), Albert Schweitzer... There are actually alot more than I can mention - and I really cannot articulate all of the reasons why I admire these individuals so much. Especially because my three year old is determined to go outside by himself right now to find the "pet" beetle he befriended yesterday. Gotta go find Mr. Beetle.

My personal heroes are my parents. They have done so much for me that I feel like I could never thank them enough. They have always been there for me and they would do anything in the world for me.

My mom is currently going back to school to finish her degree at Salem College, in Communications. She also works as Vice Prez of a local bank. In the remainder of her time she works for the local paper --- writing stories and taking pictures. Just recently, Wilkes Community College has given her the opportunity to write two books for the college. She is a super busy person!! She's fearless, courageous, intelligent, and I am very proud of her. If I could do half as much as she does, I would be doing great!!

Great Leaders:
The Women who have paved the way for me to have the opportunities that I have today!!!
Bob Marley -- great music! and very political in his music!
JFK Jr., MLK Jr., etc.

My heroes are: first of all my savior and Lord Jesus Christ, my wife who has stuck by me through thick and thin the past couple of years, my parents, all of those who have been martryed for their faith in Christ, the Saints, the Virgin Mary, Pope John Paul II, many of the teachers I had, JFK, RFK, Ghandi, MLK Jr., former D.A. Jim Garrison for researching the JFK assassination and Oliver Stone for his research and movie JFK, Mother Theresa, and many others.
These are all great leaders in their own way, and each of them and their stories have impacted me in some way.