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Stardate 20011009.0659 (On Screen): Bill posts an editorial he says came from a Romanian newspaper; it makes good reading. It has some interesting factual errors: "Cassius Clay" (instead of Muhammed Ali; perhaps he was trying to dodge the fact that Ali is Muslim), and his description of a "Hockey" player (it was Rugby).

But to me, what stood out was this: I watched the live broadcast and the rerun of its rerun for hours listening to the story of the guy who went down one hundred floors with a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was. I looked at that, and thought about it, because my first reaction was "Of course! What else would he do?" It's possible that the story is exaggerated (a hundred floors?) but the point is made: someone saw someone else in distress and helped them. Yes, we do that. I can't conceive of not doing that. (Does anyone have a reference for that story? I hadn't heard of it before.) It's not so much that I don't consider that praiseworthy, as that I would consider anything else to be contemptible. I'm simply mystified: what else would the Romanian author have expected?

I took Red Cross first-aid training. It's an interesting course. One of the things they say, and I believe it to be true, is that when someone gets hurt, people will rush to them. They want to help, but they don't know what to do. The Red Cross tells you that you should start giving orders: point to someone and tell them to do something if you need it -- and they will. And they'll be glad to have been given the opportunity to do something constructive.

If you read a history of the Normandy invasion, one of the things which stands out was the extreme bravery and selflessness of American medics at Omaha beach. While they had red crosses painted on their helmets, artillery shells and mortars and machine guns don't respect such things. And yet, when everyone else was taking cover against the machine gun fire, the medics would run back into harm's way to try to retrieve a wounded man. The medics were universally praised by veterans of that battle as being the bravest of the brave. This is who we are; this is what we do. For all our divisions and internal squabbling, when it really comes down to it, we're there for each other. (discuss)

Update: Mathew sends me this link which describes the men with the handicapped woman. It wasn't a hundred floors, but it was 68. Close enough for government work.

Update: Iain sends these two links which say that the woman got away safely. I am glad to hear that. He also mentions that until these men helped her, others had run past her without doing so. That isn't surprising. But she did get saved; that's the point.

Update 20011012: It was probably a hoax. (I don't get taken in very often; I probably should have noticed "Cassius Clay"; that's not something a Romanian would know since Muhummad Ali hasn't used that name for more than 35 years.)

Update 20011014: According to Bill, it has now been discovered that it is genuine after all.