Enough already with the bad news and blame! Political rhetoric, judgement, profiling, posturing and pontificating is getting old. How about a little good old-fashioned American heroism already?
One of the bystanders at the Tucson shooting which left U.S. Representative Gabrielle Gifffords wounded and killed six others, was a retired South Dakota national Guard officer. A former Army colonel, 74 year-old Bill Badger, says that his military training took over that day. After he was shot himself, he tackled suspect Jared Loughner. That’s one.
Daniel Hernandez, a junior at University of Arizona, is an intern for Gabreille Giffords and probably saved her life. He applied pressure to her wound and stayed with her offering words of encouragement and holding her hand. Hernandez told reporters, “she’s definitely a fighter, whether for her won life, or standing up for people in southern Arizona.” That’s two.
Finally, a grey haired MAMA hero came to the rescue! Patricia Maisch, 61, took the fresh magazine of bullets from the shooter as he was trying to reload…while our other hero, Bill Badger, and friends where holding him down. She just took the magazine out of his hand and then held on to his ankles. Go MAMA!
We are recognizing are unsung heroes that reinforce that “there is a hero inside all of us” - timing and circumstance turn every day people into our nations super heroes. Opinionated MAMAs know a lot about just getting things done without expecting recognition or reward, so to each of you courageous neighbors and friends there probably won’t be a parade, but we sincerely “thank you” for doing the right thing at the right time.
Great to see a story about good people doing the right thing…instead of just the wack-jobs! Makes me think of the other brave Americans taking back the plane on 9/11. Just average Americans willing to literally take a bullet for their fellow man. Makes a mom proud!
The Arizona tragedy has elevated my opinion of those who seek/take office to hero status, as well. Anger on both sides is building and otherwise civil people are finding themselves pushed to their personal brink of tolerance. We ask for our president to make us behave. We have to find the courage and commitment to manage our own anger, or we there will be no more public servants willing to "babysit" us, if we don't.
I agree that our public servants are HEROES. Hopefully, they run for office for the noblest of reasons, like Gabby Giffords. But, what I realize is that there are heroes among us, too. Unsung heroes that are willing to rush to the aid of our loved ones, neighbors and strangers. It makes me very proud of who we are as Americans. We have seen so much ugliness in the past few years, it is humbling and inspiring to see so much goodness, too. We ALL need to take responsibility for our words/actions and start behaving like grown ups, so we don't need a babysitter! We are so lucky to have a government that works for us – it's not perfect, but we elect people to serve the people. It really is amazing when you compare to other systems around the world.