The rider was soon surrounded: one person down on the ground with him, one directing traffic, one on the phone.

Soon, a woman rushed over with her cellphone. Then, one man got out of his car and rushed over to the motorcycle rider. The other day, I witnessed a bad motorcycle accident. But to me, these humans are the ones who give me faith in humanity, the world, God, the universe and everything.

I love all heroes, because any time a human being does something good, I rejoice. While this is true in organizations like the military or police, and exemplified many times in feats on the job, what about those everyday heroes - the ones who act for the benefit of strangers? Psychiatrist Deane Aikins says heroes often cultivate social bonds before and after the crisis. I suspect their values are already so deep-seated that they automatically act on them when faced with a morally challenging situation. I don't think heroes have time to weigh the morality of their actions at the time. Furthermore, I believe that many people have a little bit of hero inside them, and sometimes all it takes is one person to get the ball rolling, as was the case in Seattle, where a gunman had already killed one person, wounded two others and was in the process of reloading. They just seem somehow wired differently. They are the scientific researchers, but my gut tells me that most heroes are not out for selfish glory or status. Researchers Selwyn Becker and Alice Eagly said in the journal American Psychologist that heroism is not only noble risk-taking, but also something selfish, a way to ensure status. Many, such as Meis, don't even want to speak to the media. Their remarks are usually humble, usually speak of automatic reaction. 'I didn't really think about it,' 'I don't think of myself as a hero,' 'I was just focused on what needed to be done.' When questioned, recurring themes run through the answers of heroes. So these people stepped up, at the risk of their own lives, for people they did not know. For a life to be saved, there was no time to wait for rescuers. Croix River to save a drowning 11-year-old boy.Īll of these situations, which happened within days of each other, required immediate action. And a man in Minnesota jumped 30 feet from a cliff into the St.

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