Miep Gies Dies At 100 Years Old

by Dick Mac

Miep Gies, one of the women who hid Anne Frank and her family from Nazis during World War II, has died in Holland at the age of 100.

Gies has always insisted that she did nothing heroic, she only did what any decent person would do:

There is nothing special about me. I have never wanted special attention. I was only willing to do what was asked of me and what seemed necessary at the time.

I think we forget that the world is not made up of heroes. It is made up of ordinary people who sometimes make heroic decisions.

Even though television needs heroes to sell advertisements; the world has not always been this way.

The decisions we make each day means the world is a better place or not.

We needn't be heroes to do the next right thing in life.

Miep Gies, Anne Frank protector, dies at 100

Bravery And Cowardice

Bravery is a virtue in short supply in these conservative times. We have cowards running the White House who pretend to be brave by using "tough" language; but, they are all cowards. Not one of them has ever exhibited bravery. Not the president nor the vice-president nor the chief of staff nor the press secretary nor the cabinet members nor the architects of the War in Iraq. Not one of them has exhibited a moment of bravery.

Conservatives tend to be cowards. They hide behind the rhetoric of terror and aggression and they wave flags of patriotism and godliness while condemning those who want to defend the Constitution. There is no more cowardly group of men than those running the Republican Party, those who terrorize women and the poor and the homeless and children with their unChristian policies and economic warfare against those least able to protect themselves.

Bush and Giuliani and Cheyney and the other post-9/11 opportunists who are killing off Americans to further their own careers know no bravery. They are cowards.

Sadly, many Americans think these cowards are brave and represent strength; but they don't.

Bravery isn't about rhetoric, it's about action. Bravery isn't sending someone into the line of fire, it is going into the line of fire yourself.

Firefighters and cops and teachers are brave. Elected officials are, generally, cowards. Conservatives are almost always cowards.

Yesterday, nine men lost their lives in the line of duty. They were not in Iraq or Afghanistan. They were in Charleston, South Carolina, serving their community, serving humanity, and in that vein they were serving God. They are firefighters who perished doing their jobs.

Capt. William "Billy" Hutchinson, 48
Capt. Mike Benke, 49
Capt. Louis Mulkey, 34
Mark Kelsey, 40
Bradford "Brad" Baity, 37
Michael French, 27
James "Earl" Drayton, 56
Brandon Thompson, 27
Melven Champaign, 46

These men were brave. These men are what makes America great.

Think of them today and ask yourself what you are doing to make the world a better place.

Are you changing the world for the good, or are you just fighting terrorism?

These men can face their creator with their heads held humbly high. Can we?



Dick Mac Recommends:

"Heroes"
David Bowie

True Heroes: Julio Gonzalez and Pedro Nevarez

In these times when our government has abandoned their moral authority, and the ruling parties have turned us against each other. These times when so-called conservatives blame intellectuals, and religion blames science, and the rich blame the poor for all that ails the planet, we must turn to each other for inspiration.

America has a rich history of ordinary citizens doing extraordinary things.

Two days after Wesley Autrey saved a man in the New York City subway, Julio Gonzalez and Pedro Nevarez, both New Yorkers, saved a three-year old from falling to his death.

The boy was falling from the third-floor and the men caught him.

This was not a miracle! This was two brave men reaching-out to save the life of another.

Julio Gonzalez and Pedro Nevarez saved a stranger's life.

Julio Gonzalez and Pedro Nevarez are what make New Yorkers great.

Julio Gonzalez and Pedro Nevarez deserve a medal and a new home and a trip around the world and a gazillion dollars.

These are men who deserves all the best in life!

They are heroes!

Two NYC men save falling toddler
Fri Jan 5, 7:53 AM ET

Two passers-by rescued a toddler who fell four stories, scrambling to catch him as he tumbled from a fire escape, police said.

Julio Gonzalez, 43, and Pedro Nevarez, 40, saw 3-year-old Timothy Addo dangling from a Bronx building on Thursday, police said. The boy had crawled out of a window when his baby sitter briefly took her eyes off of him, police said.

"He was hanging on for dear life," Gonzalez said.

Hearing people in the building scream for help as the boy's grip weakened, the men rushed over to position themselves under the fire escape to catch him.

"No one came," Nevarez said. "We knew it was up to us."

The boy tumbled and hit Nevarez in the chest so hard he knocked him off balance, but he bounced into Gonzalez' arms.

Timothy was treated at the hospital for a cut on his forehead.

"He's fine. He's happy. He's smiling," said his mother, 26-year-old Katrina Cosme, who was working at the time of the accident.

Police talked to the baby sitter, and an investigation was continuing Friday, Detective John Sweeney said.

The crucial catch came two days after a bystander threw himself onto a Manhattan subway track to save a man who had fallen, and a day after three police officers delivered a baby on a Brooklyn subway platform.

"This is the week of heroes in New York," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

Now is the time for all Americans to return to the harmony that was sought by all of us in the seventies. When we accepted the civil rights of others and reached for more ways to make the world more equitable.

We must return to the days before the televangelists turned us against each other.

We must return to the days of economic justice, and encourage opportunity.

The men who have recently become heroes in New York City are all regular guys, just like you and me. They are changing the world. We need to remember that a noble goal is the preservation of our society for all people.

Thank God for heroes!

A True Hero: Wesley Autrey

Another New York hero!

In New York City, everybody is a star. Rock stars and movie stars like New York City because they can walk down the street and blend in; because in New York City, everybody is a star. If New Yorkers see a star in the coffee shop, they ignore them. Stars have to live somewhere and many of the interesting stars keep homes in New York City. If you live in New York City, you see them. No big deal.

New York City also has its heroes. New York City has a lot of heroes. Some are more special than others.

Wesley Autrey was standing on a subway platform when a young man fell ill and tumbled onto the tracks below. Autrey jumped into the tracks to help, and then noticed a train approaching the station.

He had to think quickly.

He threw the ill stranger into the drainage trough that runs between the tracks, fell on top of him, and let the train pass over them.

They lived. Wesley Autrey saved a stranger's life.

Wesley Autrey is what makes New Yorkers great.

Wesley Autrey deserves a medal and a new home and a trip around the world and a gazillion dollars.

Here is a man who deserves all the best in life!

He's a hero!

Man who fell on NYC subway tracks saved
By DEEPTI HAJELA, Associated Press Writer
Tue Jan 2, 10:31 PM ET

A quick-thinking commuter saved a teenager who fell on the subway tracks by pushing him down into a trough between the rails, allowing an approaching train to pass right over them, police said.

An 18-year-old man had some kind of medical problem Tuesday and fell onto the tracks, which are a few feet below platform level, police said. Wesley Autrey, of Manhattan, saw him fall, jumped down onto the tracks after him and rolled with him into the rut between the rails as a southbound train was coming in.

Autrey said he initially tried to pull the man up to the platform but had to decide whether he could get him up in time to avoid both of them getting hit.

"I just chose to dive on top of him and pin him down and pin myself down," he said.

The train's operator saw someone on the tracks and put the emergency brakes on. Two cars of the train passed over the men — with about 2 inches to spare, Autrey said — before it came to a stop.

The subway trough, which is used for drainage, is typically about 12 inches deep but can be as shallow as 8 or as deep as 24, a New York City Transit spokesman said.

Neither man was hit by the train, police said, and Autrey, who had his two young daughters traveling with him, refused medical attention. The rescued man, whose name had not been released, was taken to a hospital, where he was in stable condition.

Onlooker Patricia Brown said Autrey, a Vietnam War veteran, "needs to be recognized as a hero." Others cheered him and hugged him outside the train station.

The incident took place around 12:45 p.m. Service on the line, which runs between the southern tip of Manhattan and the Bronx, was suspended for about 45 minutes.

I wrote about another hero, Jose LeGrand. Read about him here.