Daily, before sunrise I read numerous newspapers and various news sites to get myself up to speed on what is transpiring in the world. My chronic insomnia provides me with the time for such reading before my children wake. Once my children are awake I am an avid viewer of programming like Handy Manny; I can name every one of his tools and give you an update on his relationship status with Kelly, the hardware store owner he is clearly in love with. Basically, after 8am, my brain turns to mush and I can sing along with Cookie Monster about his cookie compulsion. But, this morning I am pondering more than children’s cartoons.
Two huge local news stories in two separate cities, echoing the same message one of intervention. Not the form of intervention portrayed on that reality TV show, no, the intervention I am referring to is not about tough love it’s about love that is strong.
Voltaire, the French Enlightenment Writer and Philosopher once said,” Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.”
Yesterday morning, Jose Rosales in Fairfax County Virginia gave his life to save the lives his employers, the Brars who were also his friends when two armed men broke into the four car garage of their 9000 foot mansion. Rosales stood between the invaders and the Brars yelling, “Get away from my brother and my mom.” He then wrestled a gun away from one of the two men. The other criminal then turned a gun on Mrs. Brar threatening to kill her if Rosales did not drop the weapon. So, Rosales dropped the gun and the thugs fatally shot him.
Separately, last Friday evening in New York City a 29 year old man, Jose Gomez gave his life in an epic display of chivalry, attempting to save a woman he was on a first date with from an oncoming subway train, after she jumped onto the train tracks to retrieve her personal belongings.
What I am contemplating this morning is what provokes some of us to get involved and others among us to drone on and never up our game when life deals a shocking card? What makes some among us merely men and others heroes?
The most horrifying display of spectator paralysis and lack of intervention in recent times occurred when an elderly Connecticut man, Angel Torres was hit by a car and numerous people stood around failing to come to the severely injured pedestrian’s aid. I am posting video in case you have not seen it because it is a blatant lack of human compassion and it is mind-blowing that no one helped this man.
And then there is the case of the homeless man, who intervened to save a woman from a mugger in New York on April 24th, was stabbed and bleeds out on the street while no one comes to his aid. Several people stopped to look at Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax and one degenerate actually snapped a photo of the dying hero with his cellular phone. Following is the video of the tragedy playing out.
The point that I am trying to get to and my diatribe does have one is that we all have a moral obligation to intervene because we are human, not because we are heroes. Compassion is rapidly disappearing from society. From my perspective, it’s imperative that we play the cards we are dealt to win and by that I mean we have to do the right thing.
Whenever I see someone in peril, I acknowledge that person’s life has value, is surely loved by someone in this world and help them. When and ambulance goes whizzing by in traffic I sign the cross to pray for the passenger and get my vehicle the hell out of the way. What’s up with those among us that do not move immediately to the side of the road? Believe me you can tack on a few more minutes to your freaking’ latte, dry cleaning run, or commute if it means someone else gets to breathe another day.
Is your fight urge stronger than your flight urge? Ask yourself now before you are placed in a circumstance that forces you to act.
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