The latest in a series from me and Jennifer Ziegler, part of it here, and part of it there.

Jenny: Who are your heroes?

Me: I’ve touched on this subject before but didn’t really get around to providing examples of my own heroes or even a definition of what I think a hero is. After much deliberation, however — meaning, during the time it took me to walk Ernie this morning — here’s the definition I’ve come up with:

A hero is someone whose actions, admirable in and of themselves, serve as a lever for moving other people to realize and act on their own better qualities.

This week, I can’t think of a better example of that definition than Antoinette Tuff:

She not only saved the lives of children in her school and inspired who knows how many of us who have heard her story this week, but she treated would-be shooter Michael Brandon Hill with compassion and humanity and moved him to put forth a far better version of himself than he had been prepared to show.