"Part Three: Ray Edwards In Search of Heroes Interveiw Was Awesome" by Ralph Zuranski
Ray Edwards In Search Of Heroes Interview
Ralph Zuranski: You know I really agree with that. I think that a lot of the people that I have asked to be heroes, one of my major reason for doing that is asking people who are successful in what they do, who love the work that they are doing their best in and finding out who they think are real heroes. You never know until you ask somebody.
When you ask somebody if they would like to be recognized as a hero it tells you a lot about that person if they are even willing to take a shot at that particular recognition. My definition of hero was an acronym of someone that helps enthusiastically, responsibly, optimistically, exceptionally, socially and or spiritually.
Anybody can be a hero at any moment in time when they go out of their way to help somebody else no matter what it is. Just in one small instant they can become a hero at that moment in time. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they are always going to be a hero but in that moment in time they were a hero to someone.
Did you ever create a secret hero in your mind that helped you deal with life difficulties? We don’t really know much about your original upbringing or background, but I know that mine was pretty tough and I had a lot of difficult times. The secret hero in my mind I eventually found out was my right brain that came to my aid. Did you ever do anything like that?
Ray Edwards: That is such an interesting question. I cannot say that I had a secret hero or someone that I created in my mind, but I was blessed in a couple of ways, Ralph. First of all there were aspects of my upbringing that were kind of tough. I grew up in Eastern Kentucky and that is an impoverished part of the country.
We were fortunate. We didn’t live in poverty, but in a lot of ways it is a hard place to live. We moved around a lot. My dad was in the Marine Corps and that involved a lot of moving.
I was blessed with a grandfather who absolutely was one of the primary heroes in my life. He was a man who worked his way up from abject poverty and lived through the great Depression and World War II. Here was a man who saw the world transition from horse and buggy to the space shuttle and the Internet. He went along for most of that ride.
He loved the Internet and he loved computers. He has passed on now, but he was a great inspiration to me when I grew up. He taught me the meaning of right and wrong. He was a devout Christian and he wanted me to share that faith. He always took the time to walk me through why he did the things that he did and to try to teach me.
For some reason he was able to do that in a way that did not seem preachy or sanctimonious. I just felt the true love that radiated from those times and it made a huge difference in my life. I don’t think that I had a secret hero as much as I had a very real hero.
He didn’t wear a cape and he didn’t leap tall buildings in a single bound, but I’ll tell you what, for the first 12 years of my life I would have believed it if you told me he did.
Ralph Zuranski: What is your perspective on goodness, ethics and moral behavior?
Ray Edwards: I’m not going to be careful in my answer and I know that some people won’t share my beliefs on this particular topic and that’s okay. I’m not about trying to make people wrong if they don’t believe the same things that I believe.
I think that goodness and ethics and moral behavior all spring from a common place. I think that we are all born with an innate desire, as I indicated before, to be good, to do good, to be ethical, and to be moral. I believe that desire was placed there by God.
I think that all of the different ways that we strive to achieve goodness and ethical behavior and moral behavior and to be in the right and the thing that is inside of us when we see injustice being perpetrated on another person that cries out and says, “No, that’s wrong! That’s got to stop.”
I don’t think that is a learned response. I think that is a built in response. That’s where I believe that the desire to do good and to be ethical and moral comes from. I think that we are all, each of us in our own way, trying to work toward that end.
Ralph Zuranski: Do you think it is sort of a self conscious mind where everybody has an innate ability to determine what is right and what is wrong?
Ray Edwards: Yes. I think we have the choice to do right or to do wrong. I personally believe that there are absolute rights and absolute wrongs. That is my belief.
There are really smart people that I respect who hold a different belief but I don’t think that it is a matter of relativism in most cases. I think that part of our journey as human beings is to find a way to the place where right and good and ethical and moral behavior comes from.