Or helping a woman retrieve her kitten from a tree can be heroic. A person's actions can be interpreted as heroic simply by going out of their way to help someone who needs help. The acts of heroism that have been performed do not need to be measured on a scale to prove they are heroic as the acts themselves prove them to be. With all the acts of heroism that go unnoticed on a daily basis, that doesn't mean they don't happen or aren't as significant as other acts. It means they haven't been thrust into the limelight of daytime television. Nurses and doctors save people's lives every day, but as they do their jobs, they often go unnoticed by the public. Firefighters and police officers are often in the media spotlight, so their heroic acts are showcased on the nightly news. The average farmer who saved the woman who threw her car into the ditch is less likely to end up in the local media for his behavior, but he still showed an act of heroism. Search and rescue