Do you have any heroes? Is there anyone you look at and say, "I wish I had their courage – their determination – their willingness to put everything on the line supporting their beliefs"?
Likely not.
It's nearly impossible today to find people who fit that definition.
Hero worship has been watered down to athletic ability and celebrity, mostly manufactured by slick PR firms.
If you doubt it, just ask your children who their heroes are. Then again, don't ask.
There are three women I regard as heroes, and their courage relates to an issue facing all of us today.
I hesitate to call them a "trinity for freedom," yet it fits them.
They're an odd mix. A sexy French movie star, a gritty Italian journalist who grew up fighting in the resistance during World War II and an American Jew who puts her life on the line by focusing on threats to our freedom.
What they have in common is having had the foresight to see the imminent threat to the free world by the spread of militant Islam into the West and the courage to speak and write about it, despite the consequences.
Do you know who I'm talking about? Likely not, but I've been aware of their travails and battles, have written about them and in two instances, had the distinct honor to have talked with them personally: Brigitte Bardot, Orianna Fallaci and Pamela Geller.
Brigitte Bardot?
Movie fans from the '50s through the '70s know her as the amazing "sex kitten." The beautiful French blonde smashed into the international consciousness with the movie, "And God Created Woman." Her sensuous body, gorgeous blond hair and sexy pout drew thousands into theatres and sold millions of magazines.
I knew of her from that, but there was more. It dates back to the day I read an obscure news item (this was before the Internet) that Bardot faced jail because of something she said.
She'd retired in the '70s and devoted her life to animal protection. But then her comments as a French citizen about the changes in her country from the massive immigration of Muslims entrapped her in the legal system.
It was the first I was aware of opposition to Muslim immigration and its effect on the native population, and the first I was aware of Bardot's courage.
In 1997, she was convicted of "inciting racial hatred" because of letter to Le Figaro, in which she complained of "foreign overpopulation," mostly by Muslims.
The following year, she was in court again and convicted. She had lamented the loss of French identity and tradition due to the "multiplication of mosques while our church bells fall silent for want of priests."
She was charged three more times for her comments and/or writings: "I am fed up with being under the thumb of this population which is destroying us, destroying our country."
In her book, she grieved, "My country, my homeland, my land is again invaded by an overpopulation of foreigners, especially Muslims.
Each time, she's found guilty and the fines increase, as do the intended jail terms.
The lack of freedom of speech in France hasn't stopped her.
Bardot is quoted from another book in 2004, "denouncing the Islamization of France" by people she described as "invaders."
She wrote, "Over the last twenty years, we have given in to a subterranean, dangerous and uncontrolled infiltration, which not only resists adjusting to our laws and customs, but which will, as the years pass, attempt to impose its own."
France may hate what she said, but she's proving correct.
Despite her outspokenness, to my knowledge, Bardot has not been threatened with death, though she's still pursued legally.
Then there's Orianna Fallaci, my second hero.
I had known of her journalistic successes as a top-notch interviewer of important people on the world stage. I also knew of her work with the resistance in Italy during World War II.
And then there was Sept. 11.
She saw it all. In her rage over the horror of the attack on the United States, she wrote "The Rage and the Pride," a scathing essay published on Sept. 29, 2001, in the Italian paper Corriere Della Sera. It was then released as a book.
I read it and also the follow to it, "The Force of Reason."
They were scathing denunciations of Islam and its vendettas against the West and all non-Muslims. She wasted no sympathy on those who excused violence in the name of religion and warned that the end result would be the destruction of Western civilization.
Fallaci was sued in Switzerland, Italy and France by Muslim groups, angered by her words. She also was threatened with death under the Islamic fatwa.
Fallaci lived in New York and Florence and spent the last years of her life under 24-hour guard because of the threats.
She never did radio interviews, but I was determined and kept asking her to be on my program.
Then, one day, out of the blue, my phone rang and it was her – calling me to see if I was qualified to talk with her on my program!
I was almost speechless, but not really. We had a lengthy, stimulating and wonderful conversation. She was tough and to the point, essentially interviewing me.
Her main concern was to convince Americans that the goal of Islam is to take over our country, and they'd stop at nothing until they succeeded – unless we had the courage to stop them. She feared we were making the same mistakes Europe had.
She agreed to do my program, and I was elated. But first, she had to go to Italy. Then, her cancer worsened, and she died on Sept. 15, 2006.
We never did the program, but I treasure our conversation.
My third hero, the third woman, is Pamela Geller, an intelligent American Jew who's been outspoken about the horrors of militant Islam and Shariah and the dangers they present to us and our freedom.
She is president of The American Freedom Defense initiative, a WND columnist and publishes a blog, Atlas Shrugs. In everything, Geller is never minces words and has been a guest on my program.
She's currently the target of raw hate, not only from Muslims but also from much of the American media and many politicians.
She had the "audacity" to sponsor a "draw Muhammad" contest in Texas.
Islamists claim that any representation of the prophet requires death to the perpetrator. Not surprisingly, two terrorists showed up at the event, armed to the teeth, but before they could accomplish their bloody intent, a local policeman shot them dead.
The result is that now there's a fatwa on Geller – with the goal to behead her.
So Pamela Geller will, as did Orianna Fallaci, spend the rest of her life with 24-hour protection.
So what's the message?
We should have paid attention to these women – early on with Brigitte Bardot, who spoke about what she saw happening in France and Europe and objected.
Then, Orianna Fallaci, who did the same as she saw an Islamicized Europe and the beginnings in the U.S. and the horror of 9/11.
And now, Pamela Geller, warning us that the war is here and that at this point, we're losing because of political correctness.
Ah yes, Islam is a religion of peace.
Tell me about it.
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