The average person in our post-industrial society in the West searches in vain for opportunities to act heroically. Not because those opportunities don’t exist; they do, but because those opportunities come disguised as work.

Putting in the work that other people won’t. Doing the work to recognize that which is valuable and distinguish it from that which is not valuable. Determining how much effort to apply to solving a problem, providing value, or helping others. All of these and more are forms of work. They are also all opportunities to find the heroic and to be a hero.

Never before in human history have there been more opportunities to embrace work. And never before in human history have there been more opportunities to complain, critique, and avoid work. In a post-industrial society like the one we inhabit, the problem isn’t grinding poverty, cultural biases, or even social institutions aligning against us. The problem lies mostly in ourselves lining up against ourselves. Our personal, never-resting, internal resistance searches for excuses to avoid accurately identifying and faithfully doing the hard work that creates the situation, for the opportunity for heroism to arise.

Even with all that, there are still more opportunities than ever before to accomplish heroic acts, despite the nature of an individual’s circumstances. Overcoming has never been more possible than now.