We can be heroes, for just one day...

Desperate times call for desperate measures and some of these measures a parent just cannot make on their own and nor could I.

Since I can remember, I've always wanted a baby daughter in my life. I intend to spoil her and treat her as my little angel. A boy has kind of come second on my list but I definitely want one of them as well. In either case, I cannot even begin to fathom what I would do if the situation were to arise where I might have to potentially put them in harms way. Many men and women in the past have taken things into their hands when it came to putting their life first or their children's.

The picture to the right is that of a family in Germany where the building was ablaze and smoke was flowing from the building. The child's mother and father are in the background, and the gentleman with his hands up in the air is the uncle of the baby. I know that I would not be able to drop my child from any distance with adrenaline or not. The fact that the uncle saved this little 9-month old boy's life by ripping him from the arms of his mother and dropping him to safety below of a police officer is astonishing.

The uncle in this story just happened to be in the right place at the right time to make the pressing decision to make an attempt to save this child's life from smoke inhalation. Unfortunately for the uncle, on the same day that he became a hero and could celebrate, he also had to weep for the loss of his other nephew who passed away in the fire.

For more on this story, Click Here.


In another instance, the Washington Redskins lost one the heart and soul of their defensive unit on November 27th 2007. Sean Taylor was at home with his girlfriend, Jackie Garcia and his daughter Jackie, when an intruder came into his home. Taylor forced his girlfriend and daughter to lock themselves in a room while he went out to confront the intruders. Unfortunately, Taylor was shot his femoral artery and died in a Miami hospital after fighting a day for his life.

Taylor was not as lucky as the uncle in the previous story to come away with his life; however, he did sacrifice his life to save the greater good of his girlfriend and daughter. He will forever be remembered for that act of love and compassion regardless of his hard hits and off field incidents. A last impression is many times a lasting one.

The truth is that there are many stories on a daily basis where people sacrifice their own safety and put their life on the line day after day. We commonly recognize the major incidents with media coverage on TV such as Taylor's case, or a situation where the story is so bizarre and eye catching like a baby falling from a window that we rarely notice the ones in our everyday life. Police officers, cops, lifeguards, our nation's soldiers and others around the nation and the world on a daily basis put their life in situations where they could very easily be harmed. The have learned through their training some tactics to lessen the danger, but nonetheless, they lay it on the line for people that they do not know and have never come into contact with. If we as citizens could look past the differences between each other and be willing to lend a helping hand when one is in need then maybe, just maybe we could be heroes for just one day.