Heroes (The Other Kind)

Today while I was reading through some of Time's 100 Most Influential People, I came across a story that I'd missed when it was in the news early this year. You probably already know all about Wesley Autrey, but I didn't. His story, at least as far as having 15 minutes of fame is concerned, goes like this: He was on a New York City subway platform when he saw someone having a seizure nearby. He tried to help the man, but in the process the seizure victim stumbled away from him and fell onto the train tracks. Autrey jumped down to retrieve him, but quickly realized he wouldn't have time to get him back to safety before an incoming train hit them. Rather than just abandoning him - which, I have to think, is what most people would've done - he pushed himself down flat on top of the ill man, forcing both of them into the hollow between the tracks, just as the braking (but not in time) vehicle thundered over top of them. One of the chilling taglines from this story is that the bottom of the train was so close that it left grease on his jacket as it passed! He achieved quite a level of celebrity out of this, which may or may not, in the end, tarnish the story somewhat. But the mere fact that he'd react the way he did, at a moment during which he couldn't do anything but act on instinct, speaks volumes about the man's character.

The word "hero" has been applied to Wesley Autrey many times since then, and it's no wonder. I personally wish we'd reserve our use of the word to things like that, instead of applying it to movie stars, professional athletes and other celebrities, when what we really mean in their case is usually "really good at what they do." You'll hear young girls claim that Britney Spears is their hero, or sports commentators wax poetic about the "heroic efforts" of a hockey player in leading his team's comeback in a playoff game. While it's certainly possible for a celebrity to be a hero, it's not for selling lots of CDs or being a leader in their sport. When I watched a segment on TSN tonight about a 3-year-old Senators fan who several members of that team took into their heart, while he was dying of an incurable disease, I can recognize heroism aplenty: the young boy for remaining so upbeat while in so much pain; his parents for soldiering through what must've been an impossible ordeal and still remembering to make it about him, and not them; and the professional athletes who not only gave of themselves at a time when millionaire sports stars get quoted in the media as saying they "ain't nobody's role model!", but also set themselves up to have their hearts ripped out in the process (the youngster died just a couple hours after Ottawa scored in overtime in Game 5 against Buffalo). Those are all examples of heroism; hitting 70 home runs in a baseball season, or being on a hit TV show, just aren't.

We definitely need more real heroes, and a lot fewer of the other kind.