Hope For A Better Year

Hoping for better things to come, while finding rays of light beyond the headlines on a quiet Thursday morning.

The six million members of the Church of God in Christ have an unexpected, but welcome, newly ordained minister: Ex-KKK leader to minister in black majority church

[Johnny Lee Clary] had joined the KKK at the age of 14 after his father committed suicide and his mother abandoned him. And for 16 years, Clary advanced in the white supremacist organization, all the way up to becoming an imperial wizard.
After going through a time of torment, anger, and disgust, however, Clary left the KKK and struggled to make an honest living. He turned to God after feelings of guilt led him to depression and on the verge of committing suicide.
He has since become a guest speaker at numerous schools and churches across the nation, and lectures on occasion for the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, educating officers on the mindset of white supremacists and how to best fight against domestic terrorism.
“Yes I made mistakes in life, and a person cannot go back in time and change the past, but he can certainly do something about today in order to build a better tomorrow,” Clary says today.

Heroism year-in-review: CNN finds 5 little-reported stories of heroic co-workers whose quick-thinking and initiative earlier this year deserve greater acclaim. Despite the 2009-in-review framework CNN sets for their article, their first candidate was in the news for an action she actually performed the previous year, back in 2008, as she brought a North Carolina co-worker back to life from no less than five heart attacks:

...Everyone in the office rushed to Marlowe's side. Knowing he was a diabetic, they were looking for ways to get his blood sugar up, thinking he had just passed out. But cashier [Debi] Coffman looked at Marlowe and knew it was much more serious. "I knew that he was dead," Coffman said. "I knew he was."
Coffman and another co-worker, Larry Garrett, began performing CPR on Marlowe. "[Garrett] couldn't get any pulse," Coffman said, "and he hit him in the chest and started compressions." Coffman and Garrett are not sure how long they worked on Marlowe before they revived him.
... Coffman would revive him three times before emergency crews arrived on the scene. "I told him, 'I will not let you go,'" Coffman said.
Coffman says she isn't a hero, but she is proud she knew what to do. Proud and glad that she doesn't have to think about what would have happened if she hadn't put her training to use.

Their second story is really full of heroes, but singles out the actions of Arizona's Daniel Anderson, whose initiative helped raise sufficient funds to buy his co-worker, one-legged cancer survivor Gregory Lewis, the new prosthetic leg he so desperately needed:

"He has been walking on what looked like a stick and a brick for close to 30 years. It was starting to crack and part of it was held together with electrical tape," Anderson said.
...
Anderson found Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics in Chandler and a sympathetic employee, Tyler Ritchey. "When I met the guy, I knew we had to do something," said Ritchey, who also is an amputee. "I don't know how he (Lewis) did it for so long. When he walked he dragged [the artificial limb] on the floor to keep it from coming off."
After Anderson raised a $1,000 down payment from friends and family members, Ritchey arranged a partial donation by the company and manufacturer.
David Hyatt, manager of the Fiesta Mall Dillard's, spearheaded fundraising at the store, which included employee donations and proceeds from the sale of surplus store fixtures. One worker contacted Ecco Shoes, which donated a pair to Lewis.

"I saw the lights coming down the tunnel, and I had to do something," said the third hero, Houston Transit worker Eliot Swainson, as his volunteer work in a Washington DC train station saved a woman's life, when she fell onto the tracks right in front of an oncoming train:

[Swainson] was able to direct the woman to safety on the track while a train passed overhead, preventing her from being struck and allowing her to be extricated safely a short time later.
...
[H]e explained to the woman -- as he had been trained to do just the day before by Metro officers -- to stay as close to the edge of the track as possible, under the overhang adjacent to the platform in order to avoid being hit by the train. Metro authorities then cleared the platform and the train, cut the power to the tracks, and eventually got the woman to safety. She was transported to a local hospital "with non life-threatening injuries," according to a Metro spokesman.
...
"This was a new world for me. You still have that fear factor about what's down below there, and what not to mess with. But we had to do something to get her to safety," he explained. Swainson will now head home to his wife and daughter, who turned three years old today. "I'm just happy to have had the opportunity to see somebody safe," he said of the incident.

A series of wonderful coincidences underline the fourth hero's story, as hair stylist Carol Morgan is shocked to see her co-worker collapse to the ground. Reflexes kick in, and she draws upon years of CPR training... even though she had never before performed CPR in an emergency situation:

Morgan repeatedly delivered chest compressions and rescue breathing to Sue’s unresponsive body. When performing CPR, Morgan said one worry is that you will hurt the person. She said there is always a possibility of breaking a rib or bruising the person, but it is better they have a broken rib and still be alive.
"I wasn’t scared until it was all over,” said Morgan. Afterward, she wondered if she had done everything right.
...
“I feel in my heart the Lord put me in the right place at the right time,” she said. “He helped me remember all those steps.”
Morgan said “it was strange how everything fell into place.” She normally does not work past noon on Wednesdays. She happened to have the day off from her other job, which is why she stayed later at Innovations.
“I still think that God was watching over us that day,” she said.

The article explains her long-time CPR training:

In addition to being a hair stylist, Morgan works at Central State Consumer Services of Oklahoma. Because she works with persons with disabilities, she is required to know CPR. She has to take the course annually to keep her Red Cross certification current.Morgan had just taken her refresher course in May. She first learned CPR in 1998, when she worked for the Cherokee Nation headstart for a couple of years.
...
Morgan said she wants to encourage people to become CPR certified. She said you never know when you might need to use it.

The fifth heroic act, out of Trinidad, ends on a sad note. Who can imagine the thoughts racing through the mind of young Shiva Jagroop as he says goodbye to his co-worker, at his funeral.

" 'I just want to say thank you, Earl,' he muttered":

[Earl Rampersad, married father of a two-year old boy] pushed Jagroop out of harm’s way and took the full blow of the glass panes which fell on them at their Caroni workplace on Wednesday. Rampersad was already dead when paramedics pulled him from under the broken glass some time later.
...
Gaitri Hosein, an employee at Delta Glass Ltd, where he was employed, described Rampersad as a pillar of strength and a hardworking man.
’He was willing to do anything to make a person happy. He was a humble man who did more than what he was expected to do,’ she said.

Doing more than expected of us, making the ordinary extra-ordinary, seems as good a New Year's Resolution as anyone could look for. I adopt it as mine for this coming year... just like I did last year. Only this time, I hope to keep it...

Happy New Year to all our readers, and Best Wishes for a happy, healthy and successful 2010!

Horror And Heroism At Fort Hood

Praying for the victims, and the families and friends of the victims of the attack at Fort Hood. May they somehow grow the strength to carry the anchor of today's pain, to see through the current darkness to a day where they may rediscover a measure of peace.

Praying for those who place their lives on the line in order to keep us safe. Thank you for your service; may we rise above our many faults so that we may prove ourselves worthy of the extent of your sacrifice.

Praying for our enemies. May they somehow rise above and beyond the false beliefs that so poison their souls, thereby severing the bonds which are meant to connect us one to another.

Thankful to be blessed with heroes like Sgt. Kimberly Munley, who managed to take down the psychopathic gunman, even though she had been shot by him three times:

The hero cop who ended the bloody rampage at Fort Hood by pumping four bullets into the crazed gunman even though she was wounded is known for her toughness, friends say.

Before relocating to Texas, civilian police Sgt. Kimberly Munley spent about five years as a cop in North Carolina where she forged a reputation as a no-nonsense officer.

"I'd like to say I'm surprised, but I'm really not," said close friend Drew Peterson, 27.

"She was born and bred to be a police officer. If you were ever to be in a fight, she'd be the first person to stand up next to you and back you up. She's a tough cookie."

Munley's toughness and grace under pressure were on display Thursday when she and her partner responded within three minutes of reported gunfire, said Army Lt. Gen. Bob Cone.

Munley, who had been trained in active-response tactics, rushed into the building and confronted the shooter as he was turning a corner, Cone said.

"It was an amazing and an aggressive performance by this police officer," Cone said. Munley was only a few feet from Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan when she opened fire.

Wounded in the exchange of bullets, the 34-year-old Munley was reported in stable condition at a local hospital
...
Munley's brother Daniel Barbour told ABC News that his sister had been shot three times in the hand and the leg. One of the bullets pierced an artery, requiring her to undergo surgery Friday.

The diminutive Munley - she stands 5-foot-4 and weighs about 120 pounds - served as a cop in Wrightsville Beach, N.C., before she moved to Texas to enlist in the military, friends said.

She is married with two daughters and is no longer in the armed forces.

"She's the happiest, sweetest, most fun-loving girl you'd ever want to be friends with - and never want to cross," Peterson said.

The hero cop spent Thursday night phoning fellow officers to let them know she was fine and to find out about casualties in the attack - the deadliest ever on a military base in the U.S., Cone said.

Wednesday Hero

When the extra-ordinary becomes ordinary: here's a wonderful example of our amazing ability to continually adapt to life's given circumstances.



The combing, the chopsticks, the cooking... I'm having trouble deciding which single act amazes me the most... probably the sewing.

By ending with the family playing a game of cards together, the video concludes on a fitting note: we can't control the cards we're dealt, but we can choose how we play the hand.

Friday Reactions

It can be said that our actions are really reactions, to circumstances, situations and people. Here are a handful of reactions noticed in the margins of the news on a brisk Friday morning.

Integrity: Last Friday we blogged about a poor single mom's reaction when she discovered that her banks' clerical error made her rich. She admitted to the temptation to steal the money but nevertheless contacted the bank about their mistake and returned the full amount.

Today, a different reaction to similar circumstances in New Zealand, where a bank error added extra zeroes to a line of credit, turning a gas station owner into an instant millionaire.

His response: take the money and run.

A businessman and his girlfriend, whose bank accidentally handed them a $6.1 million credit line, have managed to flee the country with more than a third of the cash, the bank said Friday.
An international search is under way for the couple, who are believed to have gone on the run, possibly to Hong Kong or China, to avoid having to give the money back.

Heroism: In Nebraska, a remarkable six-year old son is sitting in the back seat next to his 3-year old brother when he suddenly notices his dad had fainted while he was driving them. Realizing the danger, he leaps into the front seat in order to safely take over the wheel of their family car:

Police say a 6-year-old boy grabbed the wheel of their pickup after his dad passed out from low blood sugar and kept them from crashing until a North Platte police officer could bring the truck to a halt.
...
Tustin [Mains] hopped up from the back seat to his father’s lap so he could steer and see out the windshield.
His dad’s foot had slipped off the accelerator, but even at idle the Chevrolet Avalanche was going an estimated 10-15 mph.
...
Tustin remained at the wheel for several blocks, even turning around when he got into a neighborhood he didn’t recognize.

The young son was not the only one with quick-thinking initiative on the scene...:

Other drivers noticed the boy driving the truck. Some maneuvered their vehicles in front or behind the pickup and turned on their emergency blinkers.

When officer Roger Freeze noticed the child behind the wheel, he quickly sprang into action as well, managing to catch up to the truck on foot without getting run over, reaching in through the window and stopping the vehicle by grabbing the gearshift. Later, the father expressed his gratitude:

“To chase down a moving vehicle and get it stopped the way he did took a lot of nerve, and if it weren’t for him, things could have turned out much worse.”

Battle: Headline of the day: "Hero cruise ship Britons fight off armed Somali pirates with deckchairs and tables".

British pensioners on a cruise ship bravely fought off machine gun-armed Somali pirates by hurling deckchairs and tables at them.
The holidaymakers were enjoying a midnight Mozart concert onboard MSC Melody when pirates armed with Kalashnikovs attempted to board it using grappling hooks and ladders.
But passengers forced them back to their boats by throwing chairs and tables over the stern of the ship as Israeli security guards onboard the cruise liner fired warning shots.

Tuesday Trek

After a refreshing day away from the computer, we take a brief hike through the headlines in search of interesting news stories lurking in the margins of history on a cold Tuesday morning.

Hood(lum): A Somali pirate being prosecuted in the Netherlands is compared to "Robin Hood" by his lawyer:

At a pretrial hearing in a heavily guarded court in Rotterdam, lawyer Willem Jan Ausma called his client, Ahmed Yusuf, a "Robin Hood." Speaking to reporters outside court, he said pirates "attack ships of rich countries to give the ransom to poor families."
He later told judges there were different types of pirates operating off Somalia's coast – those who gave ransom money to organised crime gangs and others "who just go to sea in the hope of getting something more than the fish that are no longer there."

The lawyer did not explain how the seven turks and one Azeri aboard the freighter his client tried to hijack may fit into his "Robin Hood" analogy; maybe they were the Merry Men..?

And speaking of merry, it seems that the Somali pirate may disagree with the tact his defense lawyer is taking, because he clearly hopes to be found guilty:

"For the first time in his life he has access to a real toilet. For the first time in his life he is in a safe environment," Ausma says about his Somali 'pirate' client.
Sure, 24-year-old Yusuf hasn't seen his family in more than four months. "But he intends to send for his wife and children as soon as he is released from prison. He knows he cannot easily be sent back to Somalia. He loves it here in the Netherlands."

The five Somali pirates are being tried in the Netherlands because of a technicality: the ship they attacked may have been sailing in international waters, but it was registered in the Dutch Antilles. A legal technicality of another sort may make such vessels targets of opportunity for these pirates in the future:

Dutch foreign minister Verhagen wants Somali pirates to be tried by a regional UN tribunal to keep them from applying for asylum in Europe.
...
Verhagen said prosecution should deter pirates, not encourage them with the prospect of starting a new life in the country that prosecutes them.

Maybe this explains the mysterious actions of the Dutch navy captain last April. After having his marines board a vessel that had been hijacked by nine Somali pirates, he freed the captured Yemeni sailors and then promply freed the pirates, as well. Rather than being "idiotic", maybe he merely considered his decision to be the lesser of evils.

Heroism: A 12-year old didn't set out to be hero when his class took a field trip to the Congaree River in South Carolina, but his quick-thinking initiative made him one, as he risked his own life to save a classmate from drowning:

"I was trying to hold her above water so she's shorter than me," says Taylor. "I have to save her, so that's all I was thinking through anything, I have to save her.
With unknown dangers ahead and his body numbing up in the cold water, Anthony stretched out his 5'7" frame and wedged his foot in the river's rocky bottom. It worked.
"Somehow I got a foothold somewhere and I grabbed her up," he says.
"If he didn't save me I probably would have died," Taylor says.
They were friends before, but they're even better friends now "because he saved my life," says Taylor. "I feel so awesome, I love him."

Holes: Thomas Sowell points out some of the pitfalls involved in increasing the television coverage of government proceedings in his latest article, "Photographic Fraud":

Some might argue that, in the absence of the cameras, many people might not know what is going on in Congress or in the courts. But being uninformed is not nearly as bad as being misled.
For one thing, it is much easier to know that you are uninformed than to know that you are being misled.
...
The more complex the issue, the more likely that understanding the context is vastly more important than seeing a picture and hearing sound bites.
Wars are especially susceptible to being distorted on camera. A dramatic event with emotional impact need not tell you what its military significance is. The viewer is able only to react emotionally, in circumstances where rationality can be the difference between life and death, not only for the combatants, but also for the societies from which they come.

Tuesday Stirrings

Sneaking peeks at stories outside the headlines on a rainy Tuesday morning.

Topiary: The fascinating link between gardening and governing.

“Gardening marks, as clearly as any activity, the joining of nature and culture. The gardener makes nothing, but rather gathers what God has made and shapes it into new and pleasing forms. The well-designed garden shows nature more clearly and beautifully than nature can show itself. And this can be a model of politics: people left to their own devices can run riot, make themselves and their environment "ruin'd" and "disorder'd"; properly governed, though, they can flourish, they can become their best selves and make the most of their environment.
…
We need governors as we need gardeners; but not all forms of government are equally wise or equally beautiful.”

Empathy: Thomas Sowell's latest column, Empathy vs Law:

"That President Obama has made 'empathy' with certain groups one of his criteria for choosing a Supreme Court nominee is a dangerous sign of how much further the Supreme Court may be pushed away from the rule of law and toward even more arbitrary judicial edicts to advance the agenda of the left and set it in legal concrete, immune from the democratic process.
Would you want to go into court to appear before a judge with 'empathy' for groups A, B and C, if you were a member of groups X, Y or Z? Nothing could be further from the rule of law. That would be bad news, even in a traffic court, much less in a court that has the last word on your rights under the Constitution of the United States."

Bon-Vivants: New study suggests the French sleep and eat more than anyone else.

Empowering: Mouth-controlled mouse for disabled computer users.

The device enables a person with no hands to operate a computer mouse with the help of his tongue.
…
"If a person loses their arms in a mishap, then this apparatus will enable them to operate the computer and help him earn a living…"

Initiative: Once again, courageous onlookers in Florida put themselves at risk in order to pull drivers from burning cars.

"Flames engulfed three vehicles, sending a column of smoke into the air that was visible for miles. As occupants of the vehicles tumbled from their vehicles, many people became involved.
...
'We pried the door of the truck open. Flames were starting to get bigger, and the guy couldn't get out. We pulled him out on the ground, but we were afraid he would get burned and we brought my truck up and put him in the truck.' "

Rescuer's Desperate Vow Saves Child From Flames: "I'm Not Going To Leave This Kid"

An amazing example of courage and self-sacrifice, as a clear-thinking New Zealand policeman witnesses a horrible car crash and springs into action :

[Inspector Mike O'Leary, operations manager for the Eastern Police District] said he heard screaming and jumped a fence, running around to the other side of the upturned wagon to see two children hanging out of the vehicle.
The wagon was engulfed in toxic smoke and flames, he said.
He grabbed a child in red clothing and ran about 10 metres from the burning vehicle. His daughter Sinead, 13, took over, comforting the hysterical boy.
He heard the other child, still trapped in the vehicle, talking to him. A man in the wagon called out "save the kids".
"I couldn't see into the van. I was pulling as hard as I could to free the child."
The wagon began making more exploding noises and he pushed [his 15-year son] Conor and the bystander Peter back.
"I had to make a decision - do I risk myself?
"I did step away but I thought, 'I'm not going to leave this kid'."
He called out for a knife to try to free the boy from his seatbelt or whatever was holding him inside and was given one by Peter. With the help of Conor and Peter, they eventually dragged him free.
The boy was badly burned and they stripped the clothes from his lower body, soaking him with water.

As it always seems with true heroes, their bravery is matched by their self-effacing humility:

Nursing a bandaged hand from burns received during his rescue of the children, he was modest about his efforts.
"It's not about me. Anyone would have done the same," he said, adding that he was proud of the way his family had acted during the incident.

... Debbie O'Leary said she was proud of her husband and his brave actions, despite his regret that the flames prevented him from getting anyone else out of the van.
"I'll never forget the look on his face when he said: 'I can't help these people'," she said.

The story has more layers of drama still; the inspector's family came upon the fiery accident while driving home from the funeral of a friend's son who had died from cancer:

As they drove, they were having a discussion about how life could sometimes be unfair and he told his family that some people get up in the morning "but never get home".

Godspeed to all involved, especially the two children now without at least one of their parents, and the hero forevermore struggling to reconcile the guilt haunting him for the five other lives he could not rescue, with the pride he should feel over the young souls his initiative allowed him to save.

May they all find peace.

Hero's Welcome For Miracle Pilot Captain Sully

It's a hero's welcome for the pilot who made the miraculous landing on the Hudson River two weeks ago, as he returns home to Danville, California, to be cheered by a crowd of 3,000 celebrants. Captain "Sully" continues to inspire: in the middle of all this attention, he still retains the humility to pointedly include a mention of the work of the flight crew during his brief speech to the cheering crowds:

Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger was given a hero's homecoming, complete with a marching band, in Danville, the San Francisco suburb where he and his family live.
Sullenberger said he was grateful for the outpouring of support since the Jan. 15 emergency landing, and that he and his crew were only doing their jobs.
"Circumstance determined that it was this experienced crew that was scheduled to fly that particular flight on that particular day," he told the crowd.
"But I know I can speak for the entire crew when I tell you we were simply doing the job we were trained to do."
Sullenberger's brief comments were his first since he brought Flight 1549 to an emergency river landing in New York City. All 155 people on board survived.
The pilot's wife, Lorraine Sullenberger, said through tears that she was amazed at the warm treatment the family has received. She said she was not surprised by her husband's heroism.
"I have always known him to be an exemplary pilot. I knew what the outcome would be that day because I knew my husband," she said. "But mostly for me, he's the man that makes my cup of tea every morning."

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A Blur Of Contradictions

Vaucluse, France: It's 8:00 AM and a mother is driving her sick young son to a doctor, when a sudden fainting spell makes her lose control of their car; it leaves the road, hits a guard post, skirts a row of cypress trees before perching itself on an embankment above a thirty-foot drop.

Once the car steadied itself from this unorthodox stop, 9-year old Arthur Pipard springs into action, to save his mother. Despite the shock of the last few moments, young Arthur has the presence of mind to dig through his mom's purse, to make a call on her cel phone, selecting to phone his father, a firefighter whom he knew to be on duty that day. The child then examines his unconscious mother, adjusting her head, which had been stuck between the headrest and the seatbelt as a result of the accident.

His father, no stranger to heroics himself, given his career as a volunteer firefighter for the community of Voconces, as well as a member of the GRIMP mountain rescue unit, remarks with pride on his son's response to the crisis: "Usually, in these types of situations, reactions tend to be more self-oriented. One tries to first protect oneself. Which is normal..."

[Translated from Le Dauphine's reports here and here.]

Studying events like the one above leave us with a blur of contradictions. It's always amazing to me to read of situations like these, where individuals seem to be able to act against all expectations. That it can happen at all ages makes it even more revealing about what it says about potential as human beings... and how foggy might be our appreciation of the fullness of that potential. When it would be normal for people to be hesitate, they act, like 11-year old Dustan; when they should panic, they remain calm, like 9-year old Drew; when every impulse is to flee, they stand their ground, like 8-year old Drayden, even leaping into the fray, like 7-year old Alexis.

Of course, we've all been given an unforgettable example of accomplishing the impossible this week, courtesy of Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III and his staggeringly succesful piloting of US Airways Flight 1549 to safety in the Hudson River. He should have lost hope, he should have been numb from despair, his fear should have crashed that plane.

On the outside looking in, we might presume that there simply wasn't any fear to overcome; maybe that's how these heroic children, as well as the Captain, were able to think, and act, as they did. But that's not seeing the big picture:

In recent years, neuroscientists have been able to see what happens inside the brain when people, like Sullenberger, are forced to make decisions under pressure. Though the typical assumption is that some people don't feel fear -- that they are somehow less scared than the rest of us -- that assumption turns out to be false. The fear circuits in the brain, such as the amygdala, generate their response automatically; it's almost certain that everyone on board Flight 1549 was terrified.

What, then, allows people like Sullenberger to make effective decisions in harrowing circumstances? How do they keep their fear from turning into panic? Scientists have found that the crucial variable is the ability to balance visceral emotions against a more rational and deliberate thought process, which is centered in the prefrontal cortex. This balancing act is known as metacognition -- a sort of thinking about thinking.

Pilots have a different name for this skill: They call it "deliberate calm," because staying calm under fraught circumstances requires both conscious effort and regular practice.

This is where flight simulators enter the picture. The advantage of these realistic simulators, which have been in widespread use since the early 1980s, is that they allow pilots to practice extreme flight scenarios, such as a total loss of engine power over water. The training provides pilots with important technical skills -- they can practice flying crippled planes -- but it also teaches them something more important: how to draw on an optimal blend of reason and emotion.

I’d like to think that, for those of us without access to such high-tech gadgetry, who might be interested in learning the same self-discipline for own times of personal crisis, there's another simulation more readily available, one that aims to provide the same balanced resolution: humble prayer.

Prayer is a study in contradictions: in our stillness there is a flurry of activity. By temporarily shutting out the world we try open ourselves up to its possibilities; by closing our eyes we strive to imagine, with as much clarity as we can summon, everything from our most dreaded fear to our most cherished wish. In doing so we think about how to think about them... how to possibly survive the arrival of the former, how to probably bring about the arrival of the latter. We pause our life in order to review whether we're heading in the right direction, usually recognizing a need to take a step back so that we can resume our way forward. We measure our past actions, stretching them out into the fog of an unlived future, to dare to see how they may weigh in a more long-term balance.

Whether it's seeing children behaving with the utmost calm when our natural expectations of childhood tells us that there should be little such reserves to draw strength from... or busy people dropping everything in order to be of maximum service to total strangers, when “everybody knows” that city people aren’t friendly to strangers… we have many examples of incongruities and impossibilities to help penetrate the fog to let us see the unimaginable: an emotional light to find hope in a darkness where reason tells us there should be no hope, an emotional faith in solutions when reason denies us the likelihood of success… a simulation of the miracle of balancing contradictions.

9-Year Old Boy Puts Jujitsu Hold On Pit Bull To Save Girl's Life

Chivalry isn't dead; a 9-year old Jujitsu student saved a 12-year old girl and her little dog from a vicious dog attack, by putting his martial arts training to use:

Drew Heredia said he and a friend were walking a small dog Dec. 30 when a pit bull jumped on the dog. The unidentified 12-year-old girl reportedly tried to save her dog, prompting the pit bull to turn on her.

Heredia said he jumped on the pit bull and applied a choke hold that he learned while taking classes at a Brazilian jujitsu studio in southwest Bakersfield."

It was kind of a hear-pounding moment," Heredia said. "It was very scary."

He said he held the dog for 20 minutes until an animal control officer arrived.

“At first, I wanted to kick it, but then I thought it’s not a good idea, because it could get my leg,” Heredia said.

The girl was taken to Mercy Southwest Hospital where she was treated for puncture wounds.
...

If you follow the link you can watch a remarkable video interview with the modest chevalier, illustrating once again how often humility and heroism tend to co-exist in equal measure.

I wonder if the absence of one precludes the potential for the other... and if there were to be an absence of one, from where would one generate the other.

New Year's Icy Rescue

Winter, the darkest time of the year, seems to bring out the best in people. Here's an amazing story of a dog owner in Manchester, England, whose quick actions saved his dog from an icy death:

Marc Greenhalgh was walking his cocker spaniel, Jarvis, through ice-bound countryside when the pet became trapped in the middle of a partially frozen lake.
...
Jarvis, who had fallen in while chasing waterfowl paddling in a hole in the ice, clung desperately to the side with his front paws while his owner fought his way over.
With other dog walkers looking on in horror, Mr Greenhalgh then swam back with his pet, put it on its lead, dried himself off and calmly went home to thaw out.
...
"It was very traumatic for everyone watching, but he was as cool as a cucumber - he just clambered back out, put the dog on its lead, and went home.
"I think he was very brave. Any dog owner would have done the same - I certainly would."

[HT to Hot Air]

More winter rescue stories here.

Heroic Brothers

With all the bad news that envelops you whenever you sit down to keep up with current events, it's a welcome break to find inspiring stories like the following pair. They come with a common thread: the quick-thinking self-sacrifice of one sibling ended up saving the life of the other.

First, from BC, a 16-year sister is saved from an icy death by the initiative of her younger brother:

A 16-year-old Vancouver girl was taken to Lions Gate Hospital in critical condition yesterday with a head injury and hypothermia after she plunged into Lynn Creek in North Vancouver.

The girl appears to have slipped on the ice and snow on a trail above the creek and slid about 11 metres [approx 36 feet] down the steep bank and into the icy creek, said Mike Cairns of the North Vancouver District Fire and Rescue Service.

Her older brother climbed down the rough terrain to the edge of the creek and pulled her from certain death, said Cairns.

"Her brother definitely saved her life at that point," said Cairns.

"He got pretty banged up doing it."

The brother was also taken to Lions Gate suffering from mild hypothermia.

I was just up there, and I think I hiked past the area where the accident took place; at one point there were footprints mysteriously leading right off a snowy cliff, and I can't imagine any other explanation for them, given the precipice they led towards. It certainly took a lot of guts to go after that girl, that was a very steep slope! This photo shows Lynn Creek a little north of where I'm guessing the incident happened, but the terrain is similar to that of the location described in the story.

Next, a story from our neighboring province of Alberta, showing that there's no age limit for heroic initiative, as an 8-year old boy puts his own body into danger in order to save his older sister from an attacking dog:

Drayden, 8, and his sister Sara Werner, 10, were sledding on a hill just half a block away from their home at 4:30 p.m. when they saw the dog, named Chinook, jump over a fence from a nearby house.

When Sara, an animal-lover, reached out her hand and beckoned Chinook towards her, the dog clamped onto the bottom of her coat and started dragging her away...

Drayden immediately jumped to her aid, launching snowballs at the dog and attacking it with his snowboard until it turned its attention toward the boy.

As Chinook attacked Drayden, biting him all over his body and tearing off his jacket, Drayden yelled at Sara to go home and seek help.

The children's uncle, Luke Werner, and the RCMP quickly dashed to the park and were able to rescue Drayden and corral the dog in an ice rink until Red Deer Animal Control arrived.

Drayden was rushed to hospital where he received seven stitches to his head and two to his arm.

Mumbai Terrorists Attack Hospital Maternity Ward

Just when you think that there's no lower point to reach on the scale of human evil, the stories coming out today from this week's Mumbai massacres reveal the limits of your imagination. What kind of bestial mind can conceive plans like this one, to launch an armed attack on a hospital's maternity ward:

Two terrorists had entered the hospital from the back entrance with hand grenades and AK-47 assault rifles at around 0230 hours killing two security personnel, Bhanu Narkar and Baban Ugade, eyewitnesses said.
The terrorist duo, while continuing to fire indiscriminately, went up to the fourth and fifth floors, which house the maternity ward at the five-storey hospital.
One of the two maternity wards was locked from the inside while the terrorists tried to break into another which had been fastened by the women occupying it using a cloth.
Twenty-five women, along with their newborn babies and three other men locked themselves inside a safety room within the maternity ward, refusing to open despite several threats by the terrorists.

The choir of crying babies born that day, lying innocently in their beds as heroic hospital staff improvised their survival, serve as a reminder to us all of the unfathomable chasm existing between the culture of death that has declared endless war on our side, the culture of life. Separated as we are by oceans and language and history, we still clearly share a common tapestry of humanity with the cloth-bearing defenders whose love of life proved stronger than the nihilists' lust for death.

In a story so steeped in villainy, it's good to also reflect on the acts of sacrificial love emerging in its shadow, in the shadows of all tragedies and nightmares, and, today of all days, to be grateful for them.

Update: Thug Who Shot 7-Year Old Alexis Sentenced To 25 Years In Prison

Speaking of heroes, here's a timely update to a story we blogged about in early May. A 7-year old girl had thrown herself in front of her mother as a human shield in order to prevent her mother's enraged former boyfriend from shooting her down in cold blood. The little heroine was hit by several bullets and lost an eye from saving her mother's life.

The creature who chose to fire repeatedly on the mother and child was sentenced today to 25 years in prison, and the judge was so disgusted by the vile character of the man he sentenced that he vowed to personally pay a visit to the parole board in 2033 to argue that he should remain in prison.

"I've seen a lot of evil in this building, perhaps a hundred lifetimes of it, but this one certainly takes the cake," [Judge] Allen said.

Handcuffed and surrounded by deputies in front of a Wayne County Circuit Court judge, Calvin Tillie loudly demanded Friday to be returned to jail rather than face the sentence he had agreed to for shooting a little girl seven times at point blank range when she tried to protect her mother.
"I'm ready to go back to the bullpen. I done spoke my mind and my piece. I don't have nothing more to say," the muscularly-built prisoner in a green jail uniform announced. "Take me back, now. Now!"

After the small demonstration of rage that prosecutors say has fueled Tillie through 15 years of violent criminal behavior, deputies led Tillie, 29, away and Judge David J. Allen issued a rare sentence in absentia.

"He has proven himself as someone who shouldn't be walking among us," Allen said after ordering Tillie to prison for at least 25 years and up to 60.
...
Tillie's victim, Alexis Goggins, turns 8 later this month. The pain from her wounds has mostly passed. She still suffers complications and occasional hospitalizations. An artificial eye has replaced her right eye that one of Tillie's bullets destroyed. There still is talk about the need for surgery to replace missing bone from the left side of the girl's skull.
...

It's simply amazing how children can seem to possess such remarkable resilience in the face of daunting challenges, revealing themselves to be not so fragile as we may be tempted to believe. In some ways young people are just not that different from older people: when much is asked, and for a worthy enough cause, then much may be given. It's comforting to know that if we, as adults, should waver in our commitments to carrying the crosses we each have to bear, there exist inspiring examples such as Alexis to teach us what it means to have inner strength:

Psychologically, Alexis has moved on in a way her mother hasn't.
"She's doing fine, wonderful in fact. Better than I ever thought. She's the same wonderful little girl," said [Alexis' mother, Seliethia Parker] ...

Mementos from the recovery are displayed in Parker's china cabinet. Members of the Detroit Pistons visited Alexis in the hospital. She was hailed a hero by the Detroit Police and a church. ...
"We did 'Good Morning America' and a lot of interviews for newspapers and television," Parker said. "A man in the Army sent her one of his medals for bravery." ...

...[A]s long she is well, I am well. I have to live with this. I just wish he was getting life for trying to take my pride and joy from me. She is my little hero."

And mine.

[Go here to see Alexis' appearance on Good Morning America]

Five Heroes Save Fisherman From Being Killed By A Bear

There is always so much apathy, vice and immorality in the news, and our own lives can be haunted by so much tragedy, that it is hard to remember sometimes how there can be some good in the world, as well.

This week British Columbia was blessed with an inspiring example of courageous initiative, of genuine heroism, multiplied by five.

Fisherman saved by five others after being jumped by bruin in his boat

... [Douglas] Miller heard Pharis screaming, picked up his metre-long spiked gaff and dashed toward him.
"He was pinned on the floor, the bear had a good hold of him and was biting and shaking him," Miller said. "I figured he was dead in seconds."
Miller sunk his gaff with its five-inch spike into the bear's neck. "It went right in and the bear still wouldn't let go."
Miller, a Victoria fishing guide, kept sinking the gaff into the bear's neck until another fisherman showed up with a gaff and joined in the fight. But the bear kept hold of Pharis's shoulder.
Two other men showed up armed with a knife and a ball-peen hammer.
"This bear was getting hit between the eyes with the hammer and it didn't flinch," Miller said.
A fifth man with a fishing knife began stabbing the bear in the neck. But, Miller said, the bear "didn't let go until he was dead."
Pharis was able to walk off the boat and waited until an ambulance arrived 25 minutes later.
Pharis's friend, Leslie Cheeseman, said Pharis is doing "remarkably well" in Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria.

We can add Bruce Miller and his four anonymous fellow rescuers to a growing list of heroes. Bravo!

Healing The Scars Of An Iraqi Child

Children have a lot to learn about life, but they can also offer a lot to teach. I posted recently about the 7-year old who tried to take a bullet for her mother, and an 11-year old who did much to save his neighbors from burning to death, as two examples.

With great thanks to Vicki, we can learn from another remarkable young person, 6-year old Youssif. Despite living through a nightmare few of us dare to try to imagine, Youssif's faith in a hopeful future has much to teach us older folks prone to despair... providing we have the humility to admit we can learn from a child.

You may already have been following the story; I hadn't, therefore Vicki's thorough coverage (over 20 updates!) made for some intense, emotional reading. Here are the highlights to an incredible story of the healing process underway for a small boy, his family and our own capacity to renew our faith in humanity's ability to choose to do Good.

The story began in January 2007, but the world didn't hear about it until August of that year:

Five-year-old Youssif is scarred for life, his once beautiful smile turned into a grotesquely disfigured face -- the face of a horrifying act by masked men. They grabbed him on a January day outside his central Baghdad home, doused him with gas and set him ablaze.

It's an act incomprehensibly savage, even by Iraq's standards today.
…
"They dumped gasoline, burned me, and ran," Youssif told CNN, pointing down the street with his scarred hands where his attackers fled.
…
Even things like eating have become a chore. His face contorts when he tries to shovel rice into his mouth, carefully angling the spoon and then using his fingers to push the little grains through lips he can no longer fully open.

After the story aired on US television, Americans by the thousands asked, as they do so often: "What can we do to help?"

Shortly after Youssif's story aired Wednesday, the Children's Burn Foundation -- a nonprofit organization based in Sherman Oaks, California, that provides support for burn victims locally, nationally and internationally -- agreed to pay for the transportation for Youssif and his family to come to the United States and to set up a fund for donations.
…

Surgeries will be performed by Dr. Peter Grossman, a plastic surgeon with the affiliated Grossman Burn Center who is donating his services for Youssif's cause.

Donations amounting to over three hundred thousand dollars were quickly collected, enough to allow the family to travel to the US in order to undergo the corrective surgery... arriving on September 11, 2007.

They had traveled more than 7,500 miles to get help for their son, from war-torn central Baghdad to coastal Los Angeles. It marked the first time the family had ever left their homeland, let alone flown on a plane.
"Oh my God, it's so green. Am I in heaven?" Youssif's mother, Zainab, said after arriving in Chicago before the family flew on to Los Angeles where Youssif will be treated.

The healing process seemed to begin just by checking in to their two-bedroom, two-bath apartment in the city of angels..:

There was a television, toys everywhere, and a balcony. A crib sat in the kids' bedroom and the kitchen even had a high-chair so that Youssif's sister would be able to eat with them at the table. For the first time in a long time, the family laughed out of pure joy.
…
Standing on the apartment's balcony, Youssif's father turned to Barbara Friedman, executive director of the Children's Burn Foundation.
"You see America on television, but you never imagine or dream that you will ever be here." He paused, tears in his eyes.
"It's more than paradise."

The family soon got to meet the doctor supervising the series of necessary surgeries, Dr. Peter Grossman:

Perhaps haunted by the pain he suffered in Baghdad's hospitals, Youssif hiccupped back sobs as his father lifted him onto the examination table.
…
"We're going to do everything we can to move forward and to do a good job," he said.

The boy's mother nodded solemnly. "I just want my son's smile back," she told the doctor.

Who knows how many chapters like the following day at the beach remain unreported every day throughout North America. If only more individuals around the world (and within America, for that matter) could see this side to the American people:

Frightened and excited, the 5-year-old Iraqi boy shrieked and laughed as his father lifted him to safety as each wave crashed around their legs. It was the first time either of them had seen the ocean. [They are approached by someone who recognized the family from seeing their story on television.] The "voice" belonged to a member of the Valley Peak church group from nearby Chatsworth -- having a father and child day at the beach.

"We'd like to pray for Youssif and his family. Can you ask if they will accept this?"

The reply: "Of course," said Youssif's mother, Zainab.

The group of Christian fathers and children surrounded the boy and his dad, falling to their knees and locking arms. Youssif and his father stood at the center of the circle holding hands. "They are going to need strength and patience, and God, just put your hand on little Youssif and his family," one of them said, head bowed in prayer. ...

Other beachgoers witnessed the scene, joined in and dropped to their knees -- more than 30 people in all. …

Watching the scene, the outpouring of warmth from total strangers, Zainab wept, tears running down her face."I was overcome with emotion," she said later. "Here in America, people were moved by him. Why not in Iraq?"

The stories on the various surgical operations (12 operations in the past year, with more to come) have some harrowing moments, such as the time complications from one operation led to young Youssif's sheets becoming soaked in blood. But still there was progress.

By Saturday he was bouncing around his room. "I ate," he announced proudly. Although his little head was tightly wrapped in bandages, he was able to open his mouth much farther than before.
"Look, Daddy, my mouth is open! I can fit the whole fork into it and I can take big bites!" he said. ...
Youssif -- who was grabbed outside his home by masked men, doused in gas and set on fire January 15 -- remained ecstatic over little things, like being able to stick his tongue out again.
"I can see all my teeth! I can stick my tongue out all the way!" he said to his dad while waiting to leave the hospital.

As the year went on, we can start to see the amazing capacity for renewal of faith that the family dynamic can provide, as parent teaches child, who then teaches parent, how to survive with grace:

[A]lthough Youssif's parents are exceedingly grateful to be in America and receive the best medical care, one realization that doctors warned about is truly beginning to set in -- Youssif's face will never be the same as it once was.
"Sometimes when he sleeps I just look at him and cry. He used to be so beautiful when he slept," his mother, Zaineb, says. ...
Youssif's parents are coping with what every parent of a child burn survivor struggles with. "They want their son to return to the way he was, and it's hard to know and accept that he won't," says Keely Quinn, the program director with the Children's Burn Foundation who has been helping the family adjust.

…
Youssif's parents are emotionally and mentally spent. They even admit their son has shown more strength throughout this ordeal than they have. To them, it seems their son is winning the battle to overcome his mental and emotional injuries, and he astonishingly seems to take the discomfort of recovery and multiple surgeries in stride.
…
"Youssif is an amazing survivor and tough little guy," Quinn says. "Compared to his parents, at 5 years old, he doesn't have the ability to see down the road how this will affect him. He just knows he will be 'fixed.' His parents have to deal with much more complex issues -- watching their son suffer, their guilt over the attack, and wondering what the next day will bring."

Which brings us to the latest update, from last week, on Youssif starting school:

Youssif began attending an American school [in january], one year to the day after he was so savagely attacked in Baghdad. In a recent letter to those who have helped his son, Youssif's father described the anniversary as a "very hard day" to endure but one that also brought joy.
"But this year, it was the day for another miracle, Youssif's first day of kindergarten. It was a very happy day," Youssif's father said.
…
Youssif is adjusting well to school, able to write out the alphabet and count to 12 without hesitation. He always finishes with an accomplished sigh, wide eyes and a smile so big, it's as if he is making up for the 10 months he was not able to smile.
…
"The kids love Youssif. They get more excited than he does when he learns a new word in English, and they brag about it for hours," the mother of a classmate says.
…
"Now, Youssif eats anything he wants, because he can open and close his mouth," his father said in the letter. "I have begun to see my son's lively spirit return. The surgeries have removed more than just external scars, they are also beginning to remove his internal scars."

A few weeks ago we went to the park and Youssif rode on the merry-go-round. Every time he passed by, he shrieked and laughed and waved wildly to me.

I thought my heart would burst with happiness."

We rarely appreciate how much we have to be grateful for, but we can at least have our eyes opened to the length of the checklist, courtesy of a small boy whose ability to laugh after such tears should do much to teach us how to do the same, as we learn how to live with faith in a positive future. As we read of young Youssif take pleasure in the simple act of eating, and hear of the comfort his parents derive from the simple sight of him smiling, we can re-learn what it means to taste life, and to be grateful for the bounty of blessings we have too long taken for granted.

To make a donation to the fund established for Youssif by the Children’s burn foundation, go here.

[Thanks again to Vicki for her vigilant updating of this story, for otherwise I might never have heard about it.]

The Passing Of A Righteous Hero

On May 12th the world lost a very special lady.

Polish Catholic Irena Sendler (1910-2008) saved the lives of 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II.

Working in the Zegota ("Council for Aid to Jews ") underground movement, where she ran the Children's Division, Irena contrived ways to enter into the Ghetto (often as part of the official Contagious Disease Department) and, with the consent of their parents, smuggle out Jewish children through various means, from hiding them in suitcases and body bags to sneaking them out, as was the case of five-month old infant, Elzbieta Ficowska, inside a carpenter's box. An ambulance driver who smuggled infants under stretchers in the back of his van kept his dog on the seat beside him, having trained the animal to bark to mask any cries from his hidden passengers.

Once outside, Irena created new identities through false documents and worked to find families willing to accept the children and pass them off as Catholic, or managed to hide them in convents and orphanages. Zegota made it clear to all of those hiding children, when the war was over, they must be returned to Jewish relatives.

She kept meticulous records of the real names of all the children she saved, having the courage to believe that her country would one day be freed and that the children could then be reunited with their parents. She hid the lists in glass jars that she buried in the garden rather than keep them around the house, and risk them being discovered.

Her rescue operation came to an end in 1943 when she was captured by the Germans. She was brutally tortured in prison, as the Nazis attempted in vain to learn more about her underground activities. These beatings resulted in both her legs and feet being fractured, causing injuries that plagued her to the end of her days, yet she did not reveal the whereabouts of her list.

She was rescued from the hands of her torturers by the Polish underground, and even though she herself spent the remainder of the war years in hiding, she continued to find ways to be of service to the hidden children. After the war, she dug up her lists from their hiding place, and devoted much time trying to reconnect the rescued Jewish children with their families.

Sadly, most of the relatives had been killed at the Treblinka death camp.

The communist regime that occupied Poland following World War II branded Irena a "fascist" , for her group's anti-communist views, and kept her from receiving just reward for her valiant wartime activities. Her story was rescued from the fog of history by four American high school students from Kansas, who created a play called "Life In A Jar", based on their research into Irena's righteous acts during the war.

As the play's popularity helped her brave efforts to become more internionally known, Irena Sendler put her inspiring courage into humble perspective:

“We who were rescuing children are not some kind of heroes. Indeed, that term irritates me greatly. The opposite is true—I continue to have qualms of conscience that I did so little.”

Last year Irena Sendler was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, but lost...
to Al Gore.

Heroes

There's never a shortage of villains and fools in the news, so much so we might begin to think there's little goodness left in our world.

What follows, therefore, is a small attempt to help balance the scales of truth by shining a spotlight on some genuinely inspiring heroes, whose stories might otherwise go unheard.

Like any lesson worth learning, often all it takes is a good example for the lesson to be passed on; here are three examples, of initiative, of tenacity, and of alertness, worth learning from.

First, all the way from Switzerland, an account of a little girl saved from drowning by the initiative of a passerby. My translation from the Swiss news site Le Matin:

"Chantal" was walking her dog by herself by the Vevey quay, on Wednesday around 7:00 pm. "As usual", she says. Suddenly, the dog drags her by the wharf and jumps into the port's basin. "I slipped and fell into the water. But I don't know how to swim."

Jérôme Montardy heard a "splash". By chance he happened to be a few meters from the incident. "I did not hesitate, I dove in fully dressed." Hanging onto a chain from the wharf, he tries to rescue "Chantal" who struggles in the "cold" and "silty" water.

Then things fall into place. A couple of passersby arrive as reinforcements. He helps the child to climb back on the wharf. Jérôme Montardy even manages to save the dog.

Yesterday he got to meet "Chantal", and her mother, for the first time since last wednesday. "Thank you for saving my life", acknowledged the young girl. The mother was still emotional. "Thank you", she repeated, unable to say more.
...

Closer to home, the tenacity of a brave soul risking much in order to save a child from being ripped to pieces by a pair of deadly dogs:

[20-year old Jordan Slezak] had been talking with his mother in their Surrey living room when they heard screaming coming from a school yard at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday. ...
"The yelling got worse, like someone screaming for their life," said Slezak, a Kwantlen College welding student.

He and his mom ran outside to see a screaming boy lying in the grass by a basketball court, one pit bull savaging his leg, another one circling and barking.

"There was blood everywhere," Slezak said. "I saw blood all over his face, all over his shirt."
Slezak's mother told him to call 911. He ran into his home and ran out with the phone. His mom yelled for him to get his bat. He ran upstairs and grabbed his wooden Louisville Slugger.

By the time he jumped a fence and reached the boy, the dog was mauling the youngster's arm.
"The first swing I gave to the dog was pretty much like a golf swing to the head," Slezak said. "The second blow was two hands overhead, coming down on to the dog's head."

Slezak chased the two pit bulls to a corner in the fencing and held them at bay until police arrived.

"I was worried that the dog was going to go off and attack somebody else," said Slezak. "It could have been a lot worse."
...
Slezak said the only thing running through his head as he fought the dog off the boy was preventing the child from receiving further injury.

And finally, another Vancouver-area story of heroism illustrating the alertness of a young man whose actions kept a horrible fire's death toll from claiming more than the three lives that it did:

While Roach-Matthews' dad, Bryan Matthews, initially ignored a burning smell he attributed to a toaster, 11-year-old Dustan decided to check the situation out. He heard the tell-tale 'beep-beep' of smoke detectors and saw smoke coming from an apartment in the 155 East 19th St. building.

He raced through the building, warning people on all three floors before exiting, while his dad went back into their apartment to get their cat, Stimpy.

Matthews also tried to ensure people were leaving because some thought the fire was minor. "I'm proud," said Matthews of his son.

"He did a good job because I was ignoring it," said Matthews, who had to go to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. ...

The comment section for the story lists several well-earned messages of thanks and appreciation for our young hero. Graciously, the young man himself writes in, and reveals yet another value within true heroism:

Humility.

My name is Dustan Roach-Matthews and I just want to say thanks to everybody for the nice comments. It was a scary thing that happened and I feel sad for the people that died. I just did what I thought would help people and was glad more people weren't hurt. I'm not Superman or anything just a kid that did what I could to help people. Thank you everybody. God bless the families of the people that died.

Alexis, The 7-Year Old Teacher

"Using her tiny body as a shield, Alexis blocked six gunshots from hitting her mother."

One of the differences separating an adult from a child is experience: the adult, being older, has accumulated more experience at living than the child.

That's not exactly news, I know, but every once in a while a story comes along like this one out of Detroit, reminding me that with age comes a shift in perspective, and if we're not careful we can lose as much as we gain from that change.

This magnificient child is only 7 years old, yet she's able to display a heartfelt appreciation for the treasured blessings filling her world, her sense of gratitude inspiring this remarkable young lady to exemplify a value for life itself that tends to take us older folks far too many years of learning from experience to acquire on our own.

Alexis cried, "Don't hurt my mother!" and jumped into her mother's arms from the back seat.

The old seem forever at odds with the young. There's a natural conflict built into this natural relationship, the conservatism of the old clashing with the rebelliousness of youth. The inexperienced young, in their vanity, can too easily foresake the value of experience itself: "You don't know what it's like", the young will swear to their elders, "you're too old, things are different now".

The old, in their vanity, respond in turn, "What do you know, you're too young". Facing each other across their opposite ends of this chasm, both sides shout in chorus the same accusation: "What do I have to learn from you??"

Hidden within this generational conflict is the simple truth that for either to change, there must be a challenge to their ideas. Through this natural conflict, each generation helps the other, the young testing the old to define in sufficient clarity the ongoing usefulness of the wisdom derived from their experiences, the old testing the young by serving up time-tested standards and expectations for them to reach in their turn.

This Detroit story of heroism in the midst of horror can remind us all to humble ourselves sufficiently so that we can be in a position to learn from anyone, even seven-year old teachers like the remarkable Alexis Goggins.

Seliethia Parker always saw her role as protector for her 7-year-old daughter, Alexis Goggins. But it was Alexis who ended up saving her mother's life by using her little body to shield her mom from a fusillade of bullets.

Doctors told Parker that her heroic little daughter, who was shot six times, would never walk or talk again.

But Alexis has surprised people with her gritty toughness. She's not only walking and talking, she's expected to have a full recovery.

"Everybody's still kind of shocked. This is progressing a little bit more than everybody expected," Parker said on "Good Morning America" today. "They said she should fully recover." Alexis was shot last December when she and her mother were about to get into a car driven by Parker's female friend. Parker's former boyfriend, 29-year-old Calvin Tillie, jumped out of nearby bushes and forced his way into the car.
...
Parker pleaded desperately with Tillie not to harm her or her daughter, but to no avail.

"Me and Alexis was left in the car with him at gunpoint and he starting shooting," Parker told GMA. Fearing for her mother's life, Alexis bolted into the car's front seat, crying out, "Don't hurt my mother."

"Alexis jumped over the seat to try and save my life," Parker said.

Using her tiny body as a shield, Alexis blocked six gunshots from hitting her mother. The bullets pierced her right eye, chin, cheek, chest and jaw. When police arrived to the scene, they found Alexis in a pool of blood, curled beneath the steering wheel.
...
Alexis said she doesn't consider herself a hero and said she wasn't scared during the event.

"I saved my mom," she said and added she loved her mother a lot and didn't want to see her get hurt.

Parker has endless gratitude for her selfless daughter.

"She's my angel and I love her to death," she said.

Is there any real love without gratitude? Is there ever any true growth without humility? Can there ever be a student, without a teacher? These are all opposites, yet they are still connected, still dependant one upon the other.

To deny ourselves the one, is to limit ourselves with the other.

Alexis is a pretty good teacher, and there seems to be quite a few students around the world learning from her lesson... not the least of which is her own teacher: her mother.

Since the attack, Alexis and her family have received more than 200 letters from well-wishers, some from as far away as London. Supporters have also contributed $30,000 to a fund set up for Alexis through her school.
...
Parker says her daughter is a living miracle.

"I'm thanking God every day that me and my baby are still here," she said. "It has taught me to ... appreciate the smaller things in life."

[Hat Tip to I See A Light, A Bright Light ]