BS: What would U have done?

Subject: BS: What would U have done?
From: Alba
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 02:03 PM

There is Humanity and Selflessness out there...there is.

Would you do what this Man did for a fellow Human Being?

The Choice!

Love and Light
Jude

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 02:08 PM

LOVED that story!! It didn't say how old his two girls were. I hope they weren't too frightened.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: Wesley S
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 02:08 PM

I don't think any of us can really know unless we're there. It's a split second decision to be sure.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: Bee
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 03:15 PM

Wesley's right. You won't know until you're faced with it, and your brain may not come up with the same response twice, either. When decisions must be made so quickly, I think the mammal fight-or-flight mechanism does the thinking. You hear of life-long criminals occasionally saving another's life at risk of their own. Doesn't make such actions less admirable, but perhaps more understandable.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: akenaton
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 03:21 PM

Don't know about myself...but I'm pretty sure I know what you would have done "nippy".....Ake

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: SharonA
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 03:55 PM

I saw the hero on TV -- middle-aged or older, and a skinny guy. They showed the mark on his knit hat where the subway cars had come in contact with it. Miraculously they missed his head.

No, I couldn't have done what he did. I would wish that I could have, but even if I could move that fast (which I can't), I'm too fat and buxom to have laid flat on top of the man who fell on the tracks. I would have been flayed by the subway cars.

The guy can thank his lucky stars that both he and his rescue-ee are thin enough that they lived through the incident!

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: Alba
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 04:12 PM

Split second, no thought, just act from the gut and try to save a Life! Seriously brave. I am honestly touched by this Man's selflessness.

Good point Kat, I too wonder what his daughters thought! Hopefully now they see just what a hero their Father is.

Just when you think the Human Race is going down the plughole someone comes along to remind you that all is not lost!
Love and Light
Jude

I think you would have done the same thing Rowntree ..**grin** Happy New Year to you Darlin

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 04:27 PM

Hopefully none of us will ever find ourselves in that situation.   

Would any of us potenially give up our lives for a stranger, with our own two children watching? If things did not turn out so well, we might be sitting here discussing how could anyone throw their life away and leave their children without a father.

By the same token (no pun intended), would any of us want our children to watch us stand by when another persons life is at stake?   What a tough decision.

It should also be noted that there were other people on the platform. Apparently this brave man was the only person who lept to help.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: kendall
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 04:27 PM

No. Just being in NY is scary enough for me.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: Wesley S
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 04:38 PM

Agreed Kendell. I can handle it for three or four days. Then I want out.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: Slag
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 04:41 PM

Who thinks? One just reacts as his or her nature dictates. It's why you see ordinary people do extra- ordinary things.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 04:47 PM

The only thing to fear in NYC is media hype that blows problems out of proportion. I feel much safer walking on a street in NYC at 2am than I do walking through the woods in the middle of nowhere.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 04:52 PM

That's a particularly perplexing question for me since I have a very strong aversion to tight places. I can't work under cars without getting nauseated and if I ever have a medical condition that would require a full-body MRE, I'd almost as soon go ahead and die first.

If heroism is required on my part, running into a burning building or lifting a car off someone is more up my alley. At least thinking about doing either of them doesn't make me want to throw up.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 04:58 PM

50 is hardly middle-age, these days, imo. Isn't it the new 30?:-)

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: Hawker
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 05:48 PM

What a great guy! Like most have said, its hard to say what I would have done, isn't it great to have people like this in the world, makes all those NASTY guest trolls pale into insignificance!
Love, Peace and Happiness,
Lucy

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: pdq
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 05:53 PM

I would have folded up my New York Times and walked briskly away.

It is just so hard to get blood stains out of one's clothing, you know.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 06:40 PM

I think you'd have been reading the Post.

;->

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: Cluin
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 06:46 PM

Quick thinking, really. Well done, sir!

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: Tinker
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 06:48 PM

Okay it seems appropriate to quote the Post now.... ( Kat, hubby took the Times to work....and the Post is fought over by sports fans..BG)

"Tell my little girls that Dady is OK!" Autry shouted from under the train after it screeched to a halt just inches above him and the man he saved.......

Autrey,50, of Harlem, had gone to the station at about 1p.m. with daughters Shaqui,6, and Syshe,4, to take them to their mothers home.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: pdq
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 07:06 PM

That post back aways wasn't me, it was one of my ranch hands, "Lonesome" Lipschitz. He's been known to sneak into the office here and post on my computer.

That boy had a hard time adjustin' to ranch life. He tried riding a horse but wanted to ride side-saddle, so we put him in charge of feeding the livestock. He's the last one to get a degree in animal husbandry from NYCC, I reckon.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: kendall
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 07:24 PM

Give me the woods anytime. I know what's there, and how to deal with whatever crops up.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: Sorcha
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 08:47 PM

I'd have been scared shitless, and probably have FALLEN in!
Give me the woods too.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: Paul from Hull
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 07:03 AM

I've kept looking at this thread, & I think I've even started posting a reply at least once, then thought better of it. There doesnt seem anything I could say that isnt repetition or that hasnt been said already, & better than I could.

Then I remembered something I witnessed yeats ago, probably about 35 years back or a little more.

'Hull Show' was something of a 'civic' event almost back then, with none, or few, of the fairground rides that seem to be at every public event these days (we have Hull Fair for that...) but as is often the case, the Territorial Army (our equivalent of the National Guard in the U.S. for those that might not know that) were putting on various displays. One was what must have been, in hindsight, a 40 millimetre Bofors Anti-Aircraft Gun, & the crew had it going through its paces, swinging round the full 360 on its mounting (the crew sat on seats either side of the gun breech, & the shells were fed in from a clip above, all automatic). It was swinging round pretty fast, but there was a rope barrier keeping the crowds a safe distance back.

Then a very small child, can't have been more than 2 or 3 years old, toddled forward, into the arc of the gun as it swung around parallel to the ground.....then out of nowhere another Territorial who must have been standing within the rope barrier, but clear of the muzzle of the gun, of course, dived under the swinging barrel in the opposite direction to its direction of traverse to get the child safely onto the ground (he/she screamed & cried at that, of course) as if it had hit her/him it would certainly have been fatal... as it would have been for this part-time, volunteer soldier as he was diving head-first towards the gun barrel as it swept around.

Seems like him & the hero above were 2 of the same ilk.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: alanabit
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 07:19 AM

A lovely story. Thanks for posting it. Fortunately, there are brave and decent people like that everywhere. They just seem to atrract less attention, which is a shame for all of us.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: Becca72
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 08:58 AM

Just to be a pain in the ass, someone made a comment above about 50 not being middle aged...which is true. The average life expectancy for a female is right around 80...which makes 40 middle aged. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: SINSULL
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 09:27 AM

I intend to live to 160 so middle age is a long way off.

I watched on the subway one day while a well dressed woman with an attitude stuck her foot in between the doors expecting the conductor to open them and let her in. Unfortunately, he had already run his check and started the train. She would have been killed had a man not grabbed her and run the length of the station avoiding posts and people. He was an undercover cop trained to respond and watch for the exact scenario. The rest of us stood dumbfounded and a little gleeful that she got hers.

My sister in law got the tip of her boot stuck in a broken escalator tred on another subway line. A man managed to grab her and get the boot off (she never figured out how - it zipped). She would have lost her foot had he not acted so quickly. Then he just walked away. She hobbled on one boot.

I saw a little girl fall down between the station and the train on Amtrak. Again, a fast thinking man grabbed her arm and pulled her up undamaged while I stood by horrified. Guess I wouldn't have jumped down to save the young man.

But I did once save a baby's life. I was walking on the street and saw two women pushing a stroller coming towards me. The baby just didn't look right. He was holding a Pepsi can. After they passed it registered that he was choking. Sure enough he had chewed the pop top off and it was lodged in his throat. They thought I was nuts when I turned and ran after them shouting "The baby! The baby!"

Another time my friend stood on a corner waiting for the light to change when a garbage truck went by. Somehow it caught a young woman who was standing on the corner with her boyfriend. Before anyone could react she was decapitated. New York can be a strange place to live.

Sorry for the babble.

I once watched a program about "heroes" and every one of them said that they reacted without thinking through the danger they were putting themselves in. They were all embarrassed at the attention. I think there is more to it than that. SOmething overrides their sense of self-preservation. For now, call it heroism.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: ranger1
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 09:28 AM

There are small acts of heroism done every day by ordinary people, many of whom are never recognized for what they do. I think that there is much more good being done in the world than bad, but unfortunately, the media only picks up on what's wrong with the world, not what's right.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: dianavan
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 03:31 PM

Yes, something does override their sense of self preservation. Either that, or they do not perceive the danger to themselves. I think the latter might be the case. Heroism is indeed a selfless act.

My son saved a three year old from drowning when he was only five. While people tried to save him (unaware that there was another child who had fallen in the water) he resisted their attempts and continued to dive below the surface. When he finally pulled the girl to the surface, they wondered why he was trying to hand them seaweed. It was only after they discovered it was the child's hair and pulled her to safety that my son grabbed hold of a hand to lift him out.

She was down pretty deep and it took him three dives to find her.

All he could do was cry about the shoe he lost.

After he was calm, he made me promise not to tell his teacher.

He wanted no attention at all.

Do we all possess these qualities? I don't think so. Most people are concerned with saving their own skin.

Today he is a very successful, businessman. Why? Everyone trusts him and he treats everyone with respect. We call him 'Golden Boy' because doors of opportunity magically open for him, wherever he goes. He leads what many of us would call a 'charmed life'.

He is the perfect example of a person who thoroughly understands the sanctity of life and leads his life accordingly. I truly believe that this childhood experience had a profound effect on him. He takes nothing for granted.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: kendall
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 04:14 PM

Sinsull, you just made my case. There are no subways in the Maine woods!
You could get shot but that could happen in NY too.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: Slag
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 05:04 PM

When I was thirteen I was walking down a sreaat in my home town when I was frozen to the sidewalk by the most horrific scream I had ever heard up until that time in my life. It was flight or fight reaction and I just stood there. Within a second came another scream just as bad or worse than the first and the front door to a house slammed open and a young woman came running out of the house with a naked, limp infant in her outstretched hands. She ran down the steps and held the baby out to me, wild terror in her eyes. I'm sure I matched the look in her eyes and I had not one answer. Other people were starting to come out of there houses and I yelled for someone to call an ambulance. I don't know if CPR had been invented yet (this was in '62) but I knew nothing of it. I just stood there as did everyone else 'til the ambulance arrived. The baby couldn 't be saved.

The mother had been giving the infant (about 18 months) a bath and she got a phone call. Gone for a second: gone forever. I have since learned CPR and have used the same a couple of times, once on my own son who aspirated liquid vitamins that my wife had given hime. My wife was an RN with a BSN and SHE froze!!! It can happen to anyone. That incident at age thirteen had a profound effect on me. I later realized that the baby was already gone and there probably wasn't anything I could do and certainly no one faulted a thriteen year old boy for not doing anything but shout "Call an ambulance" but I knew that I should have been able to do something more than just stand there. And to that end I determined that I would never be flatfooted in any crisis again.

PS I'll take the forest too. Whether city or forest, Man is the most dangerous creature on the planet and in most forests you don't need a permit to pack heat (not concealed).

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 11:45 PM

I don't think that any of us can say with any certainty what we would do in that type of situation. I suspect that we all might like to think that we would do the right thing but, sometimes, that just isn't possible. Shock can paralyse bystanders quite often.

Mr Autrey was the right man in the right place at that time. I watched the news tonight and he is being feted by the media and rewarded by the New York authorities and the likes of Donald Trump. His daughters, it seems, have been offered scholarships by the film school that the student attends.

It is good to see this kind of bravery rewarded but I do hope that he will be allowed to fade into the background once he's had what he calls his 'fifteen minutes of fame'. Sometimes the media hangs onto these things like a dog with a bone. Maybe I'm being overly cynical, but I wonder whether, right now, some newshound isn't probing into his background, just to see if they can dig any dirt. I hope that his heroic act doesn't bring him notoriety in the long run.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: Peace
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 12:08 AM

If the subway had been flooded I'd have thrown him a life preserver, if I'd had a life preserver, if there'd been a flood.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 12:18 AM

We live in a world full of flash and skin-deep sentiment, where people like Brittany Spears have their every move watched and analyzed as if they were demi-gods. I had an illness recently and had the opportunity to watch day-time television for several days and between the TV Judge deciding whether a husband's displaying pornographic photos of his wife online is grounds for divorce, Maury Povich trying to help determine who the unmarried woman's baby-daddy is among her fiance and four other acquaintances, and the fawning Entertainment Reporters who approach their prey with equal parts jealousy, admiration, and hatred, I have nearly lost my faith in human nature.
Acts like that of Mr Autrey do a significant amount of in the way of restoring it. Unfortunately, his act will usher him into the same level of talk-show fame that winning American Idol or disappearing in Aruba can grant you. Most people will marvel that a man will do something so instinctive to help another while putting themselves in jeopardy. I really believe that such is our true nature, and that our obsession with triviality is what makes us sceptical of it.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 08:43 AM

IMHO the Cult of Celebrity is today's Bread and Circuses.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: Ebbie
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 03:19 PM

Wesley Autrey was on David Letterman last night. I was very impressed with him, and so was Letterman. Don't think I've ever seen Letterman so ga ga. I liked a comment he made: Do you think there are enough people like that in the world to make the difference?

There was more to the story than reported.

His two little girls are 4 and 6 years old. He was on his way to their mother's house to drop them off on his way to work.

Autrey said that when he got to the subway station, the young man (20 years old) was having a seizure. Autrey and two women got him away from the edge of the platform and stayed with him until he stabilized. The young man then got up and went off, stumbling and lurching but coherent.

A few minutes later Autrey saw the young man had fallen into the track pit. He was flailing and twisting. A train was coming and Autrey said he argued with himself on the need to do something to help. He said his own voice told him, Hey, Wesley, you can do this. He eyeballed the trench between the tracks and thought that even though the other man was big, he himself was skinny and they might fit. So he dropped over the edge and hauled the young man between the tracks. He lay on top of him and held onto him hard. He said he kept telling the kid, Don't push me away. Let me hold on, and we'll make it.

The only casualty, he said, was that his cap got dirty from the train's undercarriage.

He was used to tight places, he said. He is in construction.
He gave the little girls to the two elderly women and told them to watch them. One of the women told him later that his littlest one tried to follow her daddy over the edge.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: kendall
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 04:24 PM

This man is a real hero.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 05:12 PM

More Follow-up:

Autrey was given the City's highest civilian medal of honor yesterday by the Mayor. The subway commissioner gave him 12 year-long passes for him and his family, and a Disney World executive gave him and his family an all-expenses paid week-long vacation to Disney World in Florida. Lord, I hope he's careful at Disney World!

Autrey's a very brave man and comes across in interviews as a modest and straight forward person.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 05:24 PM

"There are no subways in the Maine woods!"

No wonder it takes so long to get anywhere on a hike! And there are no ads to read! :)

Frankly, I get lonesome if I do not see a sidwalk every once in awhile. I love nature, but there is something about human nature and what we've created that can be equally stimulating. The big cities are not to be feared, you can find problems anywhere in the world.

There is another story today of how two men saved a three year old who fell four stories from a fire escape. The toddler hit a few trees and two men who managed to see the boy just as he was falling ran across the street and caught him.

People can joke about our streets and subways as well as the hustle and bustle, but you can't find better people then you can in the heart of a big city.

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 05:33 PM

How generous - a year of free subway rides for risking your own life to save the life of a fellow-subway-rider. Wonder what you'd have to do to get a free pass for a lifetime - save a whole trainload?

Subject: RE: BS: What would U have done?
From: Cluin
Date: 06 Jan 07 - 12:16 AM

Oh, hell! Like you can put a price on the man's actions...

The dust has cleared and here come the cynics.