Take a good look at this picture — do you see something funny? Yes, it’s supposed to look like this guy has wings. Well, I have to tell you about this story.

You know when you turn on the news or pick up the paper, what you see and hear is mostly bad, scary news. At least that’s what I usually feel bombarded with. Here’s some GOOD news. There really are modern day heroes in this world, like angels on earth. Maybe you’ve met one.

A few weeks ago, I interviewed several pilots for an article I was working on about the Angel Flight organization. I’d never heard of this before, so I had to do a lot of background reading to prepare even before I made any phone calls.

I couldn’t believe what I heard when I talked to these people. They’re pilots — busy, well-trained, well-educated pilots. And yet they VOLUNTEER their time, aircraft, and fuel to fly people in need of special medical help.

I talked to a pilot who flew a family with a newborn baby that needed specialized surgery in order to survive. They couldn’t afford to fly to a different state for this critical care, but the pilot flew them, and the baby survived. Another pilot said he takes a little girl from Florida to Tennessee every month so she can get her specialized chemo treatments for cancer. The distance and cost would have been impossible otherwise. His efforts are helping to preserve her life.

One pilot said he helped bring supplies to thousands of desperate people after hurricane Katrina wiped out their town. He happened to show up on his way home from somewhere else, and discovered this town had no communication and had been accidentally ignored by supply planes. The people had no food or water. There were pregnant women about to deliver, and they had no medical supplies!

The pilot said he flew back home and notified the Angel Flight offices. The next day, hundreds of people, volunteers, went out shopping at Wal-Mart and various places, loading up supplies. They flew five planes that very next day — saving this whole town of people! And within a few days, they’d sent out over 25 planes.

I was just in awe. You know, you think you can’t do much in the world, but you really can. Those people who shopped for diapers and formula at Wal-Mart were just as important as the volunteer pilots who flew the planes. Oh, and this man also helped set up a makeshift cellular communication system for the people as they waited for more help to arrive. Amazing.

These are our modern-day heroes, role models for my children. And yours.