“It could be that the hope was in the adventure, the honor in the pursuit, the pride in the doing.”

“I asked my Greek chorus about this sort of hero: the Underappreciated Personification of Resolve.”

“If, as has been postulated before, heroism happens when courage meets circumstance, what if the circumstances are mundane?”

“Perhaps elements like tenacity and humility combine to form a heroic compound.”

“As we age we begin to grasp at youthful bliss like a life raft in a sea of harsh reality.”

“These people were smiling because they were where they wanted to be. They understood that life is too short for what-ifs and complications. Life, they found, can be as simple as reading the wind.”

“A fairly young, intelligent-looking man with long hair asked me whether filming or being filmed could do harm, whether it could destroy a person. In my heart the answer was yes, but I said no.”