The Mundane Work of Heroism

Yesterday, I met a few of the world’s greatest heroes. They sat on plastic lawn chairs in the dusty heat as they vigilantly watched travellers pass.  Their work is anything but glamorous and exciting, yet these border monitors have collectively stopped over 5,000 Nepalese girls from being trafficked in the last 3 years.

Sitting by the border for less than hour, I realized what a great sacrifice these workers make. One of the ladies I met is only a couple years older than me. She is eight months pregnant, but she spends hours each day in that miserable heat watching, stopping, and questioning travellers. This woman’s life reveals her determined belief in justice.

Sometimes, I romanticize living a life of love. Fighting slavery or working with street children sounds inspiring and exciting, but after watching the people on the ground, I realized that it’s mostly hard work. For these courageous individuals, love means doing the same mundane tasks over and over again, and seeing few immediate results. It means dealing with emotionally taxing situations, and falling into bed exhausted, wondering if you really made the right decision. These men and women do the hard, ugly, dirty work. They see the worst of people, yet they refuse to compromise their idealistic fight for justice. These men and women are heroes.