Over my 65 years I have acquired three. With three, I recognize trends that define my six rules for selecting heroes.

1. Your selection process and list will be different from mine. That’s OK with me. I have a right to mine and you to yours.

2. Victims are not heroes. Victims are victims. Stuff happens. If you get in the way of it you are not a hero, you are a victim.

3. History records the acts of many great heroes. They are not mine. My heroes live while I live.

4. My heroes show great courage and persistence in the cause of “Justice for all.”

5. Being a hero can be dangerous. My one surviving hero lives and works under the tightest security possible, faced with constant, credible death threats because the cause of justice has powerful enemies.

6. My heroes probably have (or had) as much to lose as I do; I probably do not have as much courage as they have.

All of this is preamble for thanking Jim Smith for writing about and supporting the organization one of my heroes, Morris Dees, founded and still leads The Southern Poverty Law Center. As Jim said, this organization deserves your support. We have supported it for a number of years and recommend it to you. Learn more at www.splcenter.org.

Sincerely,Rolfe HuntBainbridge, Ga.