One of today's big news stories was a very heart-warming one: a 50-year old construction worker named Wesley Autrey jumped onto the tracks to rescue a stranger who had fallen into the path of an oncoming train-- by lying flat in the trough between the tracks, both survived with minimal injuries.
The online article linked above doesn't mention it, but according to the story in the print edition of the Times, after people started recognizing Autrey, many of them gave him money, from a guy who just walked up to him in his neighborhood and handed him $10, to someone who offered his 2 daughters scholarships. Donald Trump has even offered him some sort of reward.
It seems strange, in a way, to give someone $10 for risking his life to save a stranger, but I'm sure that $10 really meant something to the person who gave it. Autrey obviously didn't do what he did because he was looking for money or fame, he did it out of a spur of the moment selfless impulse. And the people who have offered him rewards are looking for a concrete way to acknowledge what a hugely heroic and inspiring thing he did, because it's almost too hard to do that in words. Either way, good for him. He deserves every penny.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Rewards for Subway Rescue
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5 comments:
I saw this on the news yesterday and it brought me to tears. They said his daughters watched the whole thing and started bawling when they saw their dad jump on the tracks. Oh God, I couldn't imagine what they were feeling. The man was truly heaven sent for the person he saved. No amount of money can reward him for that.
BTW, I heard Trump gave him $10k.
Truly selfless indeed. Thanks for posting this.
Everytime I read this story am in Awe.
A selfless and courageous individual.
Yeah, we saw this on the news last night and it's nice to see that there are still so many caring people in the world, like Mr. Autrey. Not only did his whole family get a trip to Walt Disney World (good PR stunt by them!), but Trump gave him $11K and I think it's awesome, but let's see what Rosie Posie has to say about it....
It's a sad comment on the state of the world when everyone else thinks that doing the right thing is hard. This guy really is a hero. In seconds flat, he decided that another person's life was worth saving. That's says his instincts to do the right thing is innate.
People want to encourage good works by giving out rewards. I am amazed at this guy's humility whenever I hear his interviews. The world needs more heroes.
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