Where Do We Find Such Men? (Prof. Liviu Librescu)

AOL News ^ | Apr 17th 2007 6:12PM | by Paul Mirengoff

[word_warrior_bob]

Mark Levin also mentioned that he was deported for not swearing an oath to communism.

They need ot have a STATUE of this man at Virginia Tech.

Hey Virginians, go start a petition.

[Joe 6-pack]

" why is the middle letter left out? Is there a reason?"

Certain religious traditions deem it blasphemous to write out The Holy Name...

[kms61]

this is a better column than some of the other pundits who’ve basically called out the murder victims for not rushing the guy barehanded. Easy for them to talk big from behind the safety of their keyboards. I’d like to see how THEY would have reacted had they been there. Would Derbyshire and the others they have been standing shoulder to shoulder with Professor Liberscu, or would they have cowered behind a desk? I have my own suspicions where they would have been found.

[Wallace T.]

The problem is that it should not have taken a 77 year old man to demonstrate courage and self-sacrifice. There were dozens of men in their late teens and early 20s who would (or should) have been more physically fit than Mr. Librescu was. It seems they went like lambs to the slaughter rather than take a stand.

We can only hope that, like the heroes of Flight 93, these students and their peers elsewhere will shake off the passivity and group think they absorbed in college, and develop a sense of independence and individualism. Burnett, Glick, Bingham, and Beamer were all born around 1970, and while the educational system and the naibstreanm culture were liberal-dominated in the 1970s and 1980s, the degree of leftist ideology and nihilism was lower then. Their association with athletics (football, judo, rugby) and their business careers pulled them away from the leftist environment for the most part.

My fear is that passivity and nihilism have become so deep rooted that the Millennial generation will not produce men who will confront bad guys.

[meg88]

amen!

[oprahstheantichrist]

"In a 1974 speech in which he honored returning POWs including John McCain, Ronald Reagan asked where we find such men.

He answered, "We [find] them in our streets, in the offices, the shops and the working places of our country and on the farms."

Ah, the "Shining City on a Hill" speech, one of Reagan's best. Out of character that AOL would have referenced that.

[Brujo]

... called out the murder victims for not rushing the guy barehanded.

I have wondered about this myself. Could I just sit or stand passively there while a single individual methodically shoots those around me?

After reading many of those posts yesterday, I spent a long moment looking at myself in the bathroom mirror this morning. I didn't really come to any particular conclusion.

It's easy to say, “Oh, yeah, I would have run at him serpentine-style shouting 'Booga-Booga' and grabbed that pop-gun out of his hand and beat him to death with it.”

Yeah, right.

I'll bet that pop-gun looks like a 16" Mark 7 naval gun off the battleship USS Iowa when you're staring down the business end. And, assuming your brain is still working at all by that point, what you're really thinking is “Why does my underwear feel so heavy and damp?”

Still, when all is said and done, we find out that it is possible to act decisively and help those around you and maybe yourself as well.

Professor Librescu did, and we're beginning to hear about others. As was pointed out, some of those on Flight 93 did as well.

I'm reminded of something one of my instructors told me a long, long time ago in a leadership class, “If you make the wrong decision, you might get some of your people killed. On the other hand, if you make no decision, you're going to get them all killed.”

[kms61]

You don’t know who has titanium balls until something like this happens. Even they don’t usually know it. Yesterday the biggest set of all belonged to a 76 year old professor.

[wtc911]

Where do we find such men?

Look in any of the thousands of Volunteer Fire Departments around the country. There is no shortage.

[webstersII]

“When I first heard about that guy, the first thing I thought was that God had a purpose for his life...”

I thought just the opposite: that the plan the murderer had is what caused this man to make this unselfish choice, not that God’s providence caused it.

[Tokra]

Certain religious traditions deem it blasphemous to write out The Holy Name...

I kinda figured that - but I thought the Holy Name was Jehovah or Yahweh - not the generic "God".

[Joe 6-pack]

Members of some faiths, and sometimes persons acting on their own volition, willmake certain allowances for any references to the Divine (like I just capitalized the "D").

In many modern Bibles, Christ's words (direct quotes) are frequently printed in red ink. In medieval missals, certain Holy Days are listed in red, from which we derive the term, "red letter day."

[thesearethetimes...]

Apologies for the late response, my comp had some serious virus issues, and my favorite comp tech, (son at college), said, “Mom, better log off, and have Dad find someone to fix it. “ lol.

As for your “long winded response”, no apology is necessary. It is up to us to force the change in the media, to stem the constant flow that trumpets the very worst of us. Sadly, I have come to believe that it is skewed with absolute intent, to squelch any idea that we, as individuals and as a nation, are capable of greatness.

thanks again,

tatt