Each Wednesday for a month, we’re going to talk about heroes

Editor’s note: Eddie Dail, who owns Gold’s Gyms locations in Virginia and Wisconsin, including Culpeper, is taking over for Jeff Walker’s column each Wednesday. Dail lives in Culpeper.

Hello, reader! I am excited by the prospect of sharing my thoughts with you each week, regardless of how disturbing they might be. I love the release that I get from the written word; I have written some short stories that have been published and a novel that has not.

I am not the prototypical sports fan. I watch football, a little basketball, rugby when I get the chance and MMA. This despite having participated at a fairly high level in some of these sports.

I just don’t invest much time as a sports viewer. But I do respect what sports can do in someone’s life in terms of teaching work ethic, discipline and teamwork. And I do love professional football.

As this is my first column, I will let this cat out of the bag, and I fully anticipate lots of hate mail (or at least one angry email): I am a Dallas Cowboys fan. Always have been. My mother explained that I chose the Cowboys the year they won their first Super Bowl because of my affinity for the cowboys in western movies.

And please understand, my mother was a rabid Skins fan. So much so, she is laid to rest in RFK Stadium, arguably her favorite place in the world, and I was responsible for that (not her death, just her resting place!).

My mother was one of my heroes in life.

I often attend the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction, but this year I watched it on TV, and there was one of my heroes, Roger Staubach, inducting one of my favorite players, Bob Hayes, and I began thinking about what it means to be a hero and the positive (or negative) effects on another’s life this role can play.

As I watched the inductees in the class of 2009, a few tears trickled down my face, and I thought that it might be worthwhile to start my career as a columnist talking about my heroes and what they have meant to me.

I plan on doing this over the next four weeks with certain parameters: I will avoid religious and historical figures, sticking with present-day heroes from the following categories:
sports/celebrities, locals/friends, family members. Folks from each group have had a wonderful influence in my life and, more importantly, they inspire me to try to do the same in the lives of others.

One such person is a gentleman named Marcus Luttrell, a Navy SEAL who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. I heard Luttrell speak at a conference last year, and he had an immediate influence on me; I was so moved I could not listen to any other speakers — they all paled too much.

Luttrell tells the story of his SEAL team being attacked in Afghanistan and the eventual deaths of his team members, his own capture and torture, and finally his rescue. His life was saved through the combined efforts of a village chief who opposed the Taliban, a helicopter crew and many others. The level of sacrifice from him and his team is to the ultimate extreme; and they did it for love of country and dedication to each other.

Aside from appreciating his service to our country, when having a “bad” day I would make it a point to remind myself of the day he spent on a mountain being chased by the Taliban.
In his book, Luttrell writes about the man who inspired him to serve our country. His hero.

His words had an influence on me. I dedicated myself to work harder to be a better teammate. My team consists of my family, friends and close colleagues. I was inspired to try to make our whole better in as many ways as I could. And I did work hard!

Luttrell’s inspiration did not end there, though; I was also inspired to be more involved with our soldiers who are returning with injuries and handicaps. I am less than proud to say that I have not followed through on this particular inspiration. Perhaps the act of writing this will provide the impetus and zeal to actually do so.

And whether you agree with the conflicts in the Mideast or not, hopefully you will appreciate the men and women over there for their bravery and service to our country and locally to Culpeper itself.

When you have the chance, thank one of them. And if you have the desire, read my hero Marcus Luttrell’s “Lone Survivor,” and you too will never think you are having a bad day again!

Dail’s column appears each Wednesday on the editorial page.