Being Cool

I wrote this little (true) story as an example for my English students; it is a response to a question in our textbook that is meant to help students generate ideas: "Have you ever been embarrassed by a teacher or another student?"

When I was in the 8th grade, I was paying much attention to what my friends thought about me. I made good grades and was generally well behaved and cooperative, and I liked that image--but I also wanted very much to be thought of as "cool."

Our teacher, Mrs. Olive Schaefer, told us that we should watch a Hallmark-Hall-of-Fame kind of play on television one night; it was considered to be intellectually stimulating, and she wanted to see how we would like it. My friends and I were trying not to appear very interested in things like that, so we decided we would tell her we thought it was "stupid." I watched a few minutes of the play that night, but not nearly enough to even know what it was about.

The next day at school, Mrs. Schaefer asked what we thought of it, and several students said they hated it. Disappointed, she looked to me and asked, "What did you think?"

I wavered a few seconds. I knew that I should admit that I really didn't watch it. But all my friends were looking at me expectantly. I gathered up my courage and said, "I thought it was stupid."

Mrs. Schaefer looked at me for a moment and she saw right through me. She said, "Judy, I'm surprised at you." Then she went on with the next part of the lesson. I was mortified. I realized that in saying what I did, I told much more about myself than I meant to.

Being Cool

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/04/being-cool.html

Thursday Thirteen: Subway Hero

Last week, a man named Wesley Autrey became a hero in New York City when he saved the life of a young man who had a seizure and fell onto the subway tracks before an oncoming train. Here are some thoughts about that:

• He acted instantly. He turned his two little girls over to a woman standing nearby and leaped onto the tracks to help Cameron Hollopeter, an 18-year-old film student.

• He had little time to think about it, but obviously, he thought this boy was worth saving at the risk of his own life.

• It must have been a split-second reaction. He said he tried to help Hollopeter up out of the tracks.

• When Hollopeter couldn’t get up, Autrey made another split-second decision. The train was getting very close.

• Autrey smashed himself down on top of Hollopeter and held him down with his head, arms, and legs. The train roared over them, smudging Autrey’s toboggan.

• Not only could the train have killed them both, but the track was charged with thousands of volts of electricity. Autrey kept the young man from touching the tracks on either side of them.

• What would I have done in that situation?

• I think I would have smacked my hand over my mouth and uttered a cry of some sort. Then I probably would have just stood there with my mouth hanging open, watching the train run over Hollopeter. I might have said, “No, no, no!”

• I’d rather think I would have helped him as Autrey did, but I don’t believe the thought of jumping onto the tracks would have ever entered my mind.

• What he did shows amazing courage and deep, sincere care and concern for other people. People are always touched by stories of such things.
  

• We’re told in the Bible that we should love God with our whole heart, mind, body, and strength and love other people as much as we love ourselves.

• If we have that kind of love, given by the Holy Spirit, then we would feel great concern for other people. We would be willing to help people—most helping ways don’t (thank God) involve leaping onto train tracks.

• Somebody asked Autrey if he had any words for other people. He said something like “New Yorkers! If somebody needs help, help ‘em!”
  

Thursday Thirteen: Subway Hero

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/01/thursday-thirteen-subway-hero.html

World Trade Center: The Movie

The second night after Christmas, my daughter and I put the children to bed early and watched a movie--World Trade Center. We cried, and we talked about it a lot the next day.

The tag line for the movie says it is “A true story of courage and survival.” Directed by Oliver Stone, it is the very moving and intense story of two of only twenty survivors rescued from the rubble of the World Trade Center buildings.

Will Jimeno, played by Michael Peña, was a rookie in a select group of New York City Port Authority policemen supervised by John McLoughlin (Nicholas Cage). Clad in fire gear, they were headed into the first-hit building in a brave effort to save as many as they could. They did not know the second building had also been hit. When the first building began to collapse, they were in the concourse between buildings. They ran for the elevator shafts and were buried there for about 22 hours before being rescued. The other members of the group were killed in the collapse.

The movie shows the courage of the two men and their families in the face of this terrifying experience. McLoughlin’s and Jimeno’s thoughts were of their families, each other, and their partners who had been killed. The CBS News site at this link tells the true story and features a video of a “Sixty Minutes” interview on November 24, 2004, with McLoughlin, Jimeno, and several of the men who rescued them.

An important part of the film is the heroic story of then-former-Marine Staff Sergeant David Karnes who was largely responsible for their rescue, along with another Marine known only as “Sgt. Thomas.” A senior accountant in Wilton, Connecticut, Karnes felt called by God to don his Marine uniform, gather up his military rescue equipment, and go to New York City to help. His fascinating story is told in this linked article in the Wilton, Connecticut, newspaper, the Wilton Bulletin of August 10, 2006.

His part in the 9-11 rescues was clearly a “God thing,” and Stone portrayed it that way. Too often, Hollywood tries to gloss over “God things” or downplay them, but in this movie, we see it the way it probably was, not embellished in any way, no implied excuses or criticism for his following this heart-felt urge.

Stone’s film does not try to tell the whole story of September 11, 2001. But through the story of these two men, their families, and their rescuers, what comes clear is the universal feelings of fear and shock, as well as the uncommon courage and human love on that terrible day.

The picture of the Port Authority policemen in the movie comes from this web site: http://www.imdb.com/gallery/ss/0469641/Ss/0469641/03070.jpg?path=gallery&path_key=0469641

World Trade Center: The Movie

http://connectionsgodandtheworld.blogspot.com/2006/12/world-trade-center-movie.html