Tuesday 7/14/20
Saw a video today of a cop saving a three-year-old child from choking to death. The cop has the mask on, so it's obviously recent. The child's family is watching, helpless, frantic. And the cop is composed, focused on saving the child. Which he does. And I see this video on Twitter, and people are saying don't make this man a hero. Have we fallen so far that we don't understand what the word hero means? A hero is like anything in this life--there are different kinds, and they exist to different extents. You can be a not great person in your life, and have a moment of heroism, and in that moment, you are a hero (Sydney Carton). You can be a decent person who always plays life safe, who has things more or less work out, you tend to yours, you got yours, nothing else, you're not a person for others, and you can go your entire existence without ever once being a hero. Percentage-wise, there is no group of people in the world worse than the people who comprise publishing. You'll travel far, search long and hard, before you encounter decency here, or even non-evil. There are plenty of bad cops, plenty of bad everything. But the breakdown, I bet, isn't a lot different than you get with most other groups, and yes, in that moment, certainly--and maybe more, I don't know--that cop was a hero. Seems pretty basic. Once you put the impetus to hate, the itch to hate, aside. Which is always more about you than anyone else. The desire to find outlets for hate. You don't think that family thinks that cop is a hero? You don't think they're right in thinking that, when they're home again with their child? Had the cop chosen not to do his job, yes, that would have been pretty evil. Sometimes, in certain moments, doing your job, doing it the best you can, is the difference between heroism--or at least decency--and evil.

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