How can you be a hero? Pay it forward and be good to those around you.
Published: August 26, 2009
Updated: August 26, 2009
Lenny Scutnik, anyone?
Chesley Sullenberger III?
Rudy Giuliani?
OK, finally a name we all recognize. “America’s Mayor” was integral in holding together the thread of New York City in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on our country. While a well known individual, he was ordinary in stature yet displayed extraordinary bravery in what must have been a terrifying situation.
Lenny Scutnik dove into the icy waters of the Potomac River on Jan. 13, 1982, to save a woman from drowning after Air Florida 90 went down just after takeoff. He did this while numerous others looked on, unable to attempt the same act of heroism.
Chesley Sullenberger III safely piloted a disabled airplane into the Hudson River in January; during the ordeal, he displayed a professional calm in the face of a terrifying situation, saving the lives of all 155 people on board.
All of these individuals displayed courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good. With the exception of Giuliani, none had any celebrity prior to his individual life test. In fact, each was an ordinary man who did an extraordinary thing.
Ordinary in the sense that none fit the category of unusual in terms of speed or strength, none were prototypical “superheroes” — though certainly they possessed intelligence (Sullenberger is even a member of Mensa International), compassion and a willingness to engage.
Most of us will never be asked to embark upon such a journey; the question is this: If asked, would we answer?
Tom Barrett, mayor of Milwaukee, was leaving a fair this month. He heard a woman crying for help. He responded, only to have a young man beat him with a tire iron, knocking out his front teeth. He answered the proverbial call.
This kind of heroism happens every day in communities across our nation and beyond. It usually does not make national news. The purveyors of these good deeds do not do them for recognition; they do them because of their internal makeup, whatever imbues them with empathy for another’s plight.
Local restaurateur John Yarnell is a perfect example. The owner of It’s About Thyme had occasion to save a local woman from a knife-wielding attacker a couple of years ago; in fact, it was not just any local woman, it was his ex-wife! How many exes would do that? Perhaps the better question is this: How many exes would conveniently wait for the situation to end before interceding?
I had the opportunity to ask John about this; without attempting to quote him, he expressed that the situation happened, that he reacted to it, that he was frightened afterward and, despite my assertions to the contrary, that he is not Batman. At least not outside the kitchen; he is a superhero inside.
Heroes are folks who have the opportunity to do something heroic; they respond or react to the situation, their resolution possibly a momentary occurrence in that it will never be asked of them again.
This is not bravery; I would argue that bravery is different in that you have to gird yourself in advance for a situation, rather than react to it. Our local police officers and our firefighters display bravery every day, just by putting on their uniforms. They are local heroes.
And local heroes can come in many forms: the cardiologist who, despite being sick himself, takes a neighbor to his office on a weekend to give him an EKG; the ATF agent who goes to Iraq for eight months, leaving the relative safety of home and family to serve his country; local attorney Butch Davies using a lifetime of community service to help others in countless ways.
These are all heroes, and if heroism is everything from diving into icy water to save a drowning woman to taking care of one’s neighbor, then we should all strive to be heroes. In a “pay it forward” scenario, another’s inspiring heroism will lead to our own, our own to yet another’s.
Be a good neighbor; be a hero.
Dail’s column appears each Wednesday on the editorial page.
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Reader Reactions
I agree. There’s a difference between
doing a dangerous job that you’ve chosen and been trained to do (however admirable) and suddenly entering a situation with no preparation. Lenny Scutnik is the true hero in my estimation. All of these years I’ve found inspiration in his words when asked why he did it: “I kept thinking ‘why doesn’t somebody do something?‘ and then I remembered that I was somebody.“ Wow.
Thanks for those other examples. On the first three in the article I would put Lenny Scutnik in a different category than Gulliani or Sullenberger. Gulliani simply “did his job”. He did not put his life in danger. Similar with Sullenberger. He had no choice but to try to get that plane down. Yes, I would surely have cheered him too had I been on that plane. But Scutnik could have stayed on shore or gotten back in his warm car. Instead he CHOSE to swim out in the freezing water, voluntarily going from safety to extreme danger. That’s a lot different.
I think it is fantastic that this series opens a discussion of heroes. Today thanks to the media heroes can be made, have their 15 minutes, and be gone by the next morning’s news. We all want “heroes” for roll models. Yet who truly is a hero. We find them in books as well as life.
Every day people doing extraordinary feats to help their fellow man, become heroes by some internal switch…most Medal of Honor winners say…they just acted. My son who is a life guard was just sitting in his chair when he acted and save a drowning child. But at the age of 15 he had never been faced with saving a life. He just acted.
I think heroes are the ones that know fear, suppress it, and carry on. You don’t know what you don’t know, until you KNOW IT.
The firefighter who goes into rescue someone is on the edge….the fireman who get trapped, is himself rescued, and the next fire goes into save someone is a hero.
The same with the wounded GI who go back into the line…and offer to take “point’ on the next patrol.
The store owner who has been robbed, forced to look down the open barrel of a shaking hand gun, and opens the next day for business.
The protester who has a skull split during a demonstration and the next time once again offers to carry their banner high.
PT 59 was the second command of Lieutenant John F. Kennedy, who chose to stay and fight after losing the PT 109 as well as five crew members who survived with him.
Carl M. Brashear in addition to being the first Black diver in the Navy was also the first Navy diver to be restored to full active duty as an amputee, the result of a leg injury he sustained during a salvage operation in 1966.
Michel Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991, and disclosed his condition to the public in 1998. He perhaps is a hero for dealing with his disease, working to find a solution, and still moving forward in life. Many an ill person can use them as a roll model.
Staff Sgt. Christian Bagge, 23, and a native of Eugene, Ore., was in a convoy hit by roadside bombs in the remote Iraq desert south of Kirkuk. He lost parts of both legs. He went on to not only recover, but go jogging with President Bush in 2008.
These to me are heroes.
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