"Danny Is My Hero"

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, all ages and genders, and all colors and nationalities. My friend Danny is a really big man. He is massive and tall. He is also one of the nicest people I know. He has come through a lot of trials and troubles in his life but he has weathered them all and come out on top.

What made me think about Danny was a dinner I went to recently. I was the guest speaker and there were a lot of people in the room I didn't know. One was a pretty young lady who came across the room to speak to me before the program began. She held out her hand and said, "I am Dennie Daniels. My father is Danny Daniels and we have heard about you all our life."

I was taken aback as I hadn't heard from Danny Daniels in four years or more. When we had been in contact he always talked about his kids Dennie and Brandon. And now here was Dennie all grown up. I hadn't seen her since she was five or six.

I asked how Danny was doing and she said fine. He is currently a GS 11 with the United States Government. I had to smile because when I first met Danny I was working in Personnel and he had just been hired as a WG-2 Janitor. He came to see me because he wanted to know what he had to do to get ahead.

I guess Danny and I became friends from that first meeting because we saw each other every few weeks when he would come to Personnel to ask about new jobs. If he saw one that he thought he could qualify for, he would work with me while we got his experience re-written. He never lied about anything he had done; he just worked with me to slant it in the direction of what was required.

In a short time Danny had been promoted to a WG 4, and then a 6, and then an 8. Onward and upward he went. I always told him if he could make the certificate to be interviewed he would get the job. He could sell himself better than anyone I ever met.

But during this time Danny began to have problems. His salary was stretched tight by supporting a wife and two children. And then his wife got sick. Danny came to tell me she had cancer. He was horror-stricken.

Still he faced that problem just like he did all others. He met it head on. But the cost of his wife's illness took its toll and one day Danny told me he had declared bankruptcy. I knew what that did to him but he plugged on. He did everything he could but the cancer was stronger than he was, and his wife died.

After she died Danny told me he was still determined his kids were going to college. "I need a promotion," he said. "I have to have the money to send them to school." So we looked for new possibilities.

When I met Dennie the other night she told me she got her degree and her brother is getting his Master's. She said they did it for their Dad. "Mr. Cooper, he is my hero," she said. He's mine too, Dennie.

 

 

 

 

 

©2005 Jackie K. Cooper

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