Subject: [NEXTEL-1] ITA's President's Message - December 2002/January 2003

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 00:50:40 -0500

A Hero for a Day …
and a Lifetime

In preparation for the conference, I gave a lot of thought to what exactly makes a hero. I
read a lot of books on the subject and even discussed the issue at length with my husband.
What is a hero? I think we all agree that the passengers and crew of United Flight 93 as
well as the public safety personnel who gave their lives on 9/11 were all heroes.  But
there is another kind of hero out there. I like to refer to them as "quiet" heroes.  It
could be the teacher that encourages you in school; it could be the coach that teaches you
the meaning of teamwork; or it could be a young boy whose quick thinking and fast action
saved a life . . .

Many years ago, on a country road a police officer was engaged in a high-speed chase.  As
the speeder flew through an intersection, a car sitting at the intersection inhabited by a
woman and her son, slowly drifted into the middle of the road as the woman turned her head
to watch the speeder's progress. As the police officer rapidly approached the
inter-section, he had a choice . . . he could either hit the car and possibly kill the
woman and her child or he could swerve off the road. He chose the latter. Jerking his
steering wheel, he immediately launched off of a steep embankment at 120 miles an hour.
When the car struck the ground, it began to flip, three times in all, front-to-back,
front-to-back. On the third rotation, the firewall gave and the engine block crashed in on
the police officer, crushing his pelvis and leg. The car ended up on its roof with the
unconscious police offi-cer inside, broken, bleeding, dying.

Thinking that she had killed the police officer, hysteria consumed the woman and she
returned immediately to her home, a mile away, where she locked her son in his room.  The
boy, however, opened his window, kicked out the screen and escaped the house to run to the
neighbors to call for help. Emergency medical help arrived in time to save that police
officer's life.

The police officer spent 13 weeks in the hospital undergoing several surgeries trying to
fix his broken body. And then he underwent months of rehabilitation trying to learn how to
walk again. Twelve months later, on a beautiful fall morning, that police officer got up,
strapped on his service revolver, pinned on his badge and kissed his wife and two young
sons goodbye as we went back on active duty. He would continue his service as a police
officer for another 40 years.

What is a hero? That young boy is my hero. Every time I watch my father limp across the
room and when I see his twisted, scarred legs, I think of that young boy and give a word
of thanks that heroes come in all shapes and sizes and all ages. Not only did he touch the
lives of my family and the community, he affected my life, as well. You see, the two
children my father kissed were my older brothers . . . I would not be born until four
years after the accident.

What is a hero? Real heroism is the desire to serve others. Each one of us can be a
hero by doing our jobs, indeed living our lives, in the service of others. When each one
of
us dies, and someone steps to the lectern to give our eulogies, no one will be remembered
for the size of their 401K or the extent of their business holdings. Instead, we will be
remembered for the way we loved and served others. And maybe, just maybe, we'll be
remembered as someone's hero . . . ¦

A Hero for a Day …
and a Lifetime
Laura L. Smith
President and CEO

http://www.ita-relay.com/magazine/dec02_jan03/President12-02.pdf

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