A Real Hero

Recent news came out of Long Beach, Washington regarding a young lad that was caught up in a near-death experience.  He was with a group of people enjoying some sun and fun at the beach.  The Pacific ocean changed into a wave of ferocity and rip tides were pulling the 12-year-old away from the safety of the shore and the into the depths of death.  Yet, in the midst of this parental nightmare, into the maelstrom comes a young 12-year-old girl named Nicole. She saw the danger, the situation, and with great risk to her own mortality, guided her small wake board toward the victim of the sea. 

The two ‘tweens clung to the board, hoping and waiting for rescue.  But, as nature would have it, a large wave struck the two and sent them back into the water.  Nicole managed to embrace the board, but young Dale was nowhere to be seen.  About this time though, rescuers had arrived and with incredible skill and training, found Dale and pulled his lifeless body out of the water.  Through miracle, fate, intervention, or a combination of all things good, he revived, survived, and lives to live again!   As for young Nicole, after a visit to her target of heroics in the hospital, moves onward in her life’s journey. 

Everyday, people put themselves in harm’s way for the sake of another. Our heroes are the firefighters, police, military, and others who stand face to face with the potential of death, stare it down, and pull others from the brink of darkness.  Those heroes are the heroes of heroes!   And now we have an example that age, wisdom, training, and raw courage don’t always have to be the pre-requisite of heroism.  This young lady was scared, unsure, and certainly untrained in the ways of water rescue….but she persevered.  She doesn’t have grand equipment or safety gear….but she went anyway.  What she had, what all heroes have is compassion.

If you Google the word hero under an image search you get a sad sense of what has become.  The images that sprout up are that of video games, cartoons, and imagination.  Pictures created by imagination.  Yet, the real definition of hero is of people created by the heart.  No computers or crayons. No comics or television. They are people. People with heart. People who do what so many will not……act.  Concern and caring for others is a compassion that moves mountains, changes the course of nature, and leads nations.

The great guitarist Jimi Hendrix once said “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”  Young Nicole doesn’t have a love of power.  In fact, I’m sure that she felt quite powerless against the surf that day. But, she had a power of love for her fellow human that fought against all odds.  Now, she didn’t ‘rescue’ young Dale that day, but the rescuers that did commented that she bought him time for them to do what they are trained to do, thus saving his life with her act of selflessness. 

We face adversity everyday on so many levels. Some are more prevalent than others. Many times, people around us…some we know, others we don’t…will step in to lend a helping hand. There is occasion when that helping hand is the hand of compassion facing the greatest adversity….death.  Connected to that particular hand is a real hero. Let’s recognize that.  Common sense says heroes are real people in everyday life that have a heart of compassion.