In the past I have written about heroes in my life. Several have been baseball players. But the fact is that, through my work, I meet heroes on a regular basis. I met one today.

When we think of heroes, we think of combat veterans, police officers, fire fighters. These men and women are indeed heroic. But many heroes live quietly in our midst.

The man I met today was indeed a combat veteran of two wars, having served as a medic in both. He presents himself without bitterness, acknowledging that his symptoms of PTSD are a price he is willing to pay for his years of service. This 94 year-old man was free of bitterness yet admits to memories of war every day. Through all of this, he has drawn on faith to sustain him.

I have known many other combat heroes who went about their business, trying not to draw attention to themselves. Another combat veteran I met had survived multiple attacks, including electrocution. When I asked him about faith, he affirmed his relationship with God, believing he’d been kept alive for a reason but humbly believing that the reason could be something as simple giving advice to a young soldier that would help that soldier stay alive.

The presence of heroes in my life has helped me hold onto hope. I think of a woman who drew on her faith to cope with the death of her husband in a mass shooting. I think of several people facing cancer, AIDS, and other life-threatening illnesses without bitterness, articulating how they faced death. One man whose eulogy I read at his funeral said “I know what I am doing now. I am singing.” He then encouraged each of us to find our own songs. He too faced death from AIDS without bitterness. Others took the time to share joyful moments that shaped their lives and shared some of that legacy with me. I think of a woman fighting an illness that eventually took her yet she took the time to share with me her joy in having known Dorothy Day.

I think of several people I have known, including my own parents, who tried to face the deaths of children. Some found a purpose to continue to live. Others drew quietly on their faith, trying to accept those tragic deaths as part of God’s will.

I think of the many people in recovery I have met, trying to live their lives free of alcohol or drugs or some other source of addiction. It is a true hero who prays for God to get him/her through the next day or even minute without taking a drink or a drug.

The list is extensive. Beyond finding hope, these and other heroes help me to focus on gratitude. They help me to humbly put my own issues into proper perspective. And many of them remind me of the power of faith in coping with tragedy.

We live in a time when our leaders hardly seem heroic, when many are using religion to further political agendas. My lengthy list of heroes helps me not give in to cynicism.

So I encourage you to take the time to make your own inventory of heroes who have touched and enriched your lives. If you’re not sure, just look around you. There are likely to be unsung heroes in your midst.