Rick is a nice guy, and I love him dearly, but he is not a hero, he has done nothing heroic -- apart from trying to teach me to play guitar. Heather, who has to put up with him, on the other hand ---. But seriously, could we cut back on the use of hero? I notice that American (and Canadian) soldiers who get shot at, or whose helicopters fall out of the sky and crash because of poor maintenance are routinely now referred to as heroes. It is getting absurd. A hero is someone who does something truly extraordinary, far beyond the call of duty or ordinary exertion. What will we call true heroes, if everyone who goes to work in the morning is a hero? (It is Sunday night, I am heroically and stoically girding myself for Monday, when I will go and heroically teach students things they probably do not want to know. Where do I get my medal?)

yours, Peter T.