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Marc2b -> RE: An Ordinary Hero (5/9/2008 3:50:05 PM)
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It has been said (I forget by who so all due credit to whoever credit is due) that there are moments in our lives when we must choose between what is right and what is convenient and that is where our character is defined. How often do people not get involved because the simple don’t want to deal with the hassle in their lives? This woman will likely be required to give depositions and maybe testify at trial. She may soon have a defense lawyer digging through her life, looking for something to discredit her testimony. The suspect is currently free on bail and, although police say they are keeping a close eye on him, the police are not perfect – and who knows what kind of nutballs his family are? So by getting involved she is risking possible witness intimidation. These are the kind of things that can flash through a persons mind when they face those right versus convenient moments. I don’t know if any or all of this occurred to here in that moment, perhaps she reacted before such thoughts occurred – which would simply mean she is a fundamentally good person, unlike so many of us who think things through before we decide to do good.
But does this make her a hero? I’ll leave that up to others to decide. I do confess, however, that I chose the word rather flippantly. At the moment I was writing I was on a bit of a time limit. Had I time to review what I had written more closely, I might well have changed it. It certainly wasn’t my intention to compare her with the men who stormed Omaha Beach or the person who runs into a burning building to rescue somebody (although the same principle applies – it is certainly inconvenient to get shot or burned). Rather, my intention was simply to note that by choosing the right over the convenient, one woman has helped to possibly take a dangerous individual off the street and thus saved who know how many girls from a terrible, traumatic, experience. That is something I think deserves a round of applause.
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