While perusing CNN.com, a headline along the right margin caught my eye: “Vote for your CNN Hero!” The teaser explained, “You can help choose the 2011 CNN Hero of the Year. Just select the individual whose accomplishment, impact and personal story inspires you the most!”

Well, I think without question CNN’s Hero of the Year is Anderson Cooper. After all, not only does he still find himself in harm’s way, at the eye of the storm, in the belly of the beast, but he’s somehow managed to find yet another time slot for Anderson. The guy’s a machine, an inspiration, indeed, a hero to us all.