You can find heroes everywhere

[Platapus]

I generally have a pretty low opinion of the Human species. I have low expectations on how Humans should act and they consistently fail to meet them. Absent of any a priori knowledge, I usually default to the position that people suck.

But this week, I was involved in an animal rescue that might, just might start to change my mind.

A guy named Steve is the owner of a house that he rents out to Rachel.

Steve was working around the outside of his house when he found a Kitten crying on the ground. Later, upon examination, I estimated the age of this Kitten at about 14 days. This was later confirmed by the vet.

Steve let Rachel, his tenant, know about the kitten, but Rachel was at work and could not get home.

Steve, who never had a cat, stopped his work and was able to get the Kitten inside, get it warm and get some milk inside of her.

After work, I followed Rachel to her house where she took over. Rachel also had never owned any pet and did not especially like cats. I taught her how to feed and evacuate the kitten.

Rachel, took a day of vacation and stayed up all night Wednesday and all day Thursday feeding this kitten every 2 hours with formula. The reason this Kitten is alive is wholly due to Rachel. Oh by the way, Rachel was scheduled to travel out of state Thursday evening so she had zero sleep for almost 2 days.

I took the Kitten to the vet to get checked out. No hint of a bill yet though. Then Carol, who is a member of the Feline Foundation of Greater Washington, will be taking care of this Kitten over the weekend. After that the FFGW will be fostering this Kitten until it can be adopted. So far we have three families fighting over this kitten.

All these people working together to save this 14 day old Kitten. No egos, no arguments, no thought of expenses. Just a focus on the animal’s well being. Just because they decided to care.

Steve and Rachel are not cat people at all. But they did what needed to be done to keep this little girl alive. Imagine a person who does not care for cats staying awake to bottle feed this kitten, using up some leave, and doing so before a long trip out of state.

Hero: A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose,

You can find heroes in small towns, doing small things, to help a small creature, in a small but important way. Why did they do it?


Because




Just wanted to share this.

[Arclight]

What makes me wonder why it is so hard to open our hearts for fellow humans. Imagine what would have happened if the kitten had been a homeless person.



I'm not too fond of human behaviour in general either, but I have nothing but respect for people who work with animals. It never pays much and it's mostly volunteer work anyway.

Nice story.

[Oberon]

Bless her
Wish there were more in the world like that.

[Skybird]

Good hearts at work, okay, and the story certainly gets my sympathy.

But please, let's leave out "heroism" here. We have a traditional understanding of what heroism is, and that understabding emerged over centuries and was already depicted in sagas of old. Let's stop this inflationary abuse of the the term "hero". there is nothing heroic in what these people do. Love for animals, selflessness to some degree, altruism, okay - but no heroism.

[Jimbuna]

Kudos to Steve and Rachel

[MothBalls]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Good hearts at work, okay, and the story certainly gets my sympathy.

But please, let's leave out "heroism" here. We have a traditional understanding of what heroism is, and that understabding emerged over centuries and was already depicted in sagas of old. Let's stop this inflationary abuse of the the term "hero". there is nothing heroic in what these people do. Love for animals, selflessness to some degree, altruism, okay - but no heroism.

I disagree with your comment.

Let’s say you’re driving down the street and see a house on fire. You look up and see a child in an upstairs window screaming for help obviously trapped by the fire. You scan the crowd and see a people running to their cars. They emerge with video cameras so they can tape it, possibly to sell the tape to the local news or post it on Youtube. These are the scumbags the world could do without.

Then, out of the crowd you see two people running up to the front of the house, climbing the porch, putting themselves at risk, doing everything they can to save the child. Heros. They do it only because it's the right thing to do.

It is this same type of person who takes the time and makes the effort to save a kitten, because it's the right thing to do. That's what heros are, people with compassion who are willing to make a sacrifice and not give it a second thought.

In one respect I agree with your comment, it wasn't an act of heroism to save the kitten. None the less, these people are heroes without a doubt, because they are what heroes are made of.

[UnderseaLcpl]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Good hearts at work, okay, and the story certainly gets my sympathy.

But please, let's leave out "heroism" here. We have a traditional understanding of what heroism is, and that understabding emerged over centuries and was already depicted in sagas of old. Let's stop this inflationary abuse of the the term "hero". there is nothing heroic in what these people do. Love for animals, selflessness to some degree, altruism, okay - but no heroism.

I agree. Heroism is an overused term. I reserve it for individuals who show a exceptional bravery and/or selflessness in the face of mortal danger or seemingly insurmountable odds. Some people have called me a hero simply for serving in Iraq, or even for just enlisting, but I'm not a hero and calling people like me, or people like those in the story, is a bit of an insult to real heroes. I had the privilege to serve alongside or glimpse a few; men who risked and sometimes lost their lives to protect civilians or aid fallen comrades (and even an enemy, once)

Still, it is a heartwarming story, and I laud those people for their compassion and selflessness. Bravo!

[Skybird]

techncially, heroism means that a person voluntarily and by choice is leaving a situation of comfort and security, to enter a situation of uncertainity and great risk for health and life, to save the virgin from the dragon or to find a remedy for the disease of the poor blacksmith's youngest son. Or to find truth, the holy grail or honour. Sometimes heroes can be fools at the same time, and not knowing it.

that makes those people entering the burning house to save the children heroes, for they had the choice to enter or not enter a situation of great risk for themselves. that makes thos epeople nursing the cat warm-hearted people, but no heroes at all.

Is a soldier in battle a hero when following orders to attack? He is not in that he obeys the order to advance into the fire - it's not his choice, but obligation, and the fullfilling of your duty miust not be thanked for, becasue it is a duty indeed. But he may become heroic by the way and style in which he decides to meet his fate when executing that order, no matter whether he survives it or not.

The term is too much used, because every Peter and every Paul claims the right to be seen as something special - sorry, something VERY special - today, and if not every Peter and Paul is given that status of being a hero and a very special individual (as special as all the other individuals there are: so much for individuality!), he files a complaint for being discriminated. We are ALL heroes, aren't we? but if we all are hearoes, then there is no hero at all anymore, because the hero is the one leaving the normal context behind, who steps beyond the boundary of being just normal and ordinary, and accepts extraordinary danger and risk to achieve something that is rare and by that: precious, if not for others than at least for himself. The hero is the true, the real individual who does not care for what others think of his decision. He does it, without regret, and he exchanges normality, acceptance and security for doing the extraordinary, violating the consensus, challenging risk and danger.

that's what makes a hero, and he cannot do any different than that. And right that is what makes him a hero. We others babbling about euqality and how very much the same we all are - are imposters at best. and we impertinently try to benefit from a reputation that is not ours and that we have not earned.

[UnderseaLcpl]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Is a soldier in battle a hero when following orders to attack? He is not in that he obeys the order to advance into the fire - it's not his choice, but obligation, and the fullfilling of your duty miust not be thanked for, becasue it is a duty indeed. But he may become heroic by the way and style in which he decides to meet his fate when executing that order, no matter whether he survives it or not.

Couldn't have said it better myself