In Tragedy…Look for the Helpers

The famous contemporary philosopher Fred Rodgers once said,

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” To this day, especially in times of “disaster,” I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.”

Thankfully, my oldest is only three and isn’t aware of the scary things this world produces, but when he does start asking those complicated questions, I’m going to lean on old Mr. Rodgers here.

So…let’s look for the helpers, like Army Specialist Glendon Oakley in El Paso. Even more touching than his heroic actions that day is his response to questions about it.

Oakley told KTSM television he was shopping when a child ran into the store and told everyone there was someone shooting a gun inside the nearby Walmart.  Once Oakley walked out of the store he could hear the gunshots and saw “a whole bunch of children without their parents, crying.”

Oakley said he and another man just began grabbing as many of the children as they could to rush them to the mall’s parking lot for safety.  He apologized to the reporter speaking to him “I’m sorry.  I’m just shaking.  If that were my child in the same predicament what would I want someone else to do?”

When chaos erupted in El Paso, Army soldier Glendon Oakley’s first response was to save the lives of children https://t.co/hR4edginrI pic.twitter.com/qNmUgfb330

— CNN (@CNN) August 5, 2019

Indeed…what would someone else do? What would I do? I don’t know because I don’t think you can ever know until you are faced with it, but I hope I live up to Mr. Oakley and the other helpers who saved countless lives in California, Texas and Ohio the past few days.

Thank you to the helpers.