Hurricane Sandy, Frisco Pier, Oct.28-29, 2012 at the Outer Banks, NC. Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills
This amazing photo is by Don Bowers via Flickr
Times of disaster reveal a special group of people that are normally unseen among us. They believe it’s their purpose and duty to show up and help people in times of extraordinary danger. They are known by many names but I’ll put them all into one big group and call them The Helpers.
They include police officers, fireman, rescue crews and the military but it’s a much more diverse group than that. There are moms and dads, friends, neighbors and total strangers that perform amazing feats of aid. I know pastors that wield chainsaws, students that join Red Cross teams, millionaires that serve soup and sandwiches and little old ladies that go through their closets for winter coats and shop the Dollar Store for Christmas trinkets for kids.
There’s the story of a homeless man who came to the aid of a policeman who was getting beaten up, risking his own life to help a total stranger. On the news this morning I heard a man who had just lost his home to fire and flood in Queens but his only thought was to get back in and rescue his neighbors who refused to heed the warnings.
They are everywhere.
Just yesterday I drove to the top of a neighboring mountain using my last bit of gas to get to the Mapco station, only to realize I didn’t have my wallet. We scrounged up $3.00 in change and as we were paying I shared my stupidity with the cashier. Because sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself. The manager, who was listening around the corner, popped through the door, threw a $10 bill on the counter and said, “Here. Tell them it’s on Mapco.” Then the guy at Starbucks gave me free coffee. And Starbucks is more expensive than gas.
I drove back this morning to pay everyone back only to find out from the current manager on duty that yesterday’s Mapco manager had used his own money. The cashier didn’t want to let me pay him back. “Oh no. He gave you that money,” she said. I put the cash on the counter and backed away, telling her to give it to the next idiot who forgets his wallet. She couldn’t come around the counter so I got away, barely able to even return the unearned gift from a stranger.
They are hidden in plain sight. Because they don’t want the attention.
There are dozens of them for every reluctant hero that gets shoved in front of a camera and made out to be a hero. Like the twenty something Coast Guard swimmer I saw this morning who didn’t think it was a big deal to jump into 30 foot freezing seas yesterday to rescue the crew that sailed a Hollywood movie prop into the storm of the century. Just another day at work for him.
I don’t think so.
But that’s the way they think. Like the ex-Navy SEAL who was ordered to stand down in Benghazi but fought to his death to save others. His father said he believed it was “better to die a hero than live a coward.” Just like the homeless man I mentioned earlier.
It’s awe inspiring to realize that honest to goodness heroes are everywhere.
All they need are the circumstances to prove it. Not that they go looking. They’re perfectly happy enjoying life like the rest of us. But when the chips are down some people shine like guardian angels. We are blessed to have them.
There are still people that I know who are going back down to Haiti to continue earthquake relief long after the press coverage is gone. Like Northshore Church in Slidell, Louisiana. Many of them lost everything in Katrina but still they help. Because they know what it means.
They challenge me, these secret helpers of humanity. Hidden heroes lifting others up because they themselves have been down.
I can’t count the people that came to our aid in desperate times. They self-sacrificingly gave money, prayers, company on long nights in cold hospitals, lessons for children, rides, entertainment, food for months, babysitting, driving all night if they had to.
Nobody ever got on the news. Nobody ever took credit. They would never have thought of it.
Self-sacrifice is something governments don’t do. But amazingly, people will. By the thousands in the next few days. Just watch.
Or even better – help.
By the way, I found my wallet in a zipped inside pocket of the coat I was wearing at the time. I hadn’t worn it since last winter and forgot the pocket was there. I might think twice about helping someone that’s just being stupid. But the guy at Mapco didn’t.
Thanks, Mapco Man!
