Like many other words and phrases in our country, hero is losing some of its meaning by excessive usage.
“I really don’t understand this trend in this country to hail people as heroes for doing the job they were hired to do.”
In most cases I would agree with you. But she was outgunned by some joker wearing body armor (if the reports are to be believed). Rushing him and taking him down took guts as well as skill with a pistol. Had she missed (by that I mean a small target not covered by helmet or vest), she’d probably be dead.
Assuming the facts are as I described them from the reports I have heard, I’d say she could rightly be called a hero.
I’ve known plenty of security guards who would have turned tail against those odds with the justification “they don’t pay me enough.”
And I'll bet we find out she puts in some serious range time ... which reminds me ...
Like many other words and phrases in our country, hero is losing some of its meaning by excessive usage
Tell that to the people that were inside that church. She was a hero.
If it was my ass she just saved, she’d sure be my hero!!
I much rather use the term "hero" for the brave, selfless people who act to save lives than on the volumes of sports figures such as the notorious O.J.was once called, and other football and basketball players have been called. They are held up to our youth as something heroic when they do NOTHING heroic at all. They practice, they play well and they are simply doing their jobs, and being paid very well to do them. They and their employers get amazingly rich because of people who idolize them, and their actions in the games they play as professional athletes are far from selfless. That is where the word "Hero" has been overused and abused - not in instances like this event where the woman put her own life on the line for the sake of protecting others -- paid or not.
“I really don’t understand this trend in this country to hail people as heroes for doing the job they were hired to do. Yes, this woman did a very good job and did save many lives, but that is why she was hired. I heard the pastor saying that the guard was there because there was alarm about the shooting near Denver.
Like many other words and phrases in our country, hero is losing some of its meaning by excessive usage.”
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Considering the average “rent a cop” type of security guard makes between $8-$12 an hour...I personally would not blame her one single bit if she had turned and run from this perp.
He supposedly was loaded with a bunch of extra clips / ammo and had body armor etc...and a semi-auto rifle with (I’m guessing here) a 20 round clip popped in the bottom.
She was likely armed with a pistol or revolver.
In my eyes... armed the way she was...if she’s gonna draw down against a person with that much firepower... she’s a damned hero, no question in my mind.
Just my opinion.
Your screen name fits you nicely.
Your point is quite valid, we do have a tendency to overuse the moniker of courage, especially with sports figures. However, given the information we have, this person truly did act heroically. Another person, job or not, might have turned tail and run when the shots were fired, but she faced the threat with little regard for her own safety, knowing that many other lives were threatened. She deserves the praise she is getting and any honors that may be bestowed upon her for her heroic actions.
I'd remind you, DumbBlond, that every person in the US Military right now has been "hired" to do the jobs they are doing. All of the Police and Firemen at the World Trade Center were paid to do the jobs they were doing.
Need I go on?
Your screenname is not.
Taking on a rifle-armed and armored opponent with nothing more than a pistol takes courage. That's heroism.
Being a professional sports boy or girl is not heroism.
Party pooper.
;)
Did you pick your screen name or did someone give it to you?
It's my understanding that she was an unpaid, volunteer guard, possibly with a former law enforcement background.
But even if she was a paid professional, whether private security or LEO/military, it's probable that this was her first fatal shooting- most cops have not experienced one, and a good many who do decide that the weight of that responsibility is not something they continue to bear.
And some people, it bothers not very much. I fear that the undesired spotlight of the publicity that will befall her for this particular shooting will bring her grief she does not deserve to suffer, but we shall see.
Yeah, her action was *heroic* in my professional opinion. In the military, she'd likely qualify for the Soldier's Medal, or the equivalent from other services.
I would agree, BUT APPARENTLY this woman was a regular parishioner who essentially seemed to “volunteer” for this “job”. Only hours after the “concern” arose. I don’t think she qualifies as a regular-old “security guard”.
You are MY hero!
“Like many other words and phrases in our country, hero is losing some of its meaning by excessive usage.”
Seems like a very courageous thing that she did. Hero seems like it fits to me whether she was paid, volunteered, man or woman.
I think the enthusiam of the thread reflects the unlikely source of the news: CNN.
I would agree if you're talking about a doctor or teacher, but staring down a gunman in mortal combat is something completely different.
If this were not the case, many of our MOH recipients would have "just been doing their job" too. We recognize however that little phrase, "Above and beyond the call of duty". Thus the term hero, or more appropriately, "heroine" applies.
Furthermore, that security guard at the church shows us, without a doubt, that conceal carry and the ability for the private citizens to be armed, STOPS these attacks. That it SAVES LIVES, and that it should be the policy of every church, school, mall, etc.
THIS is what the MSM should be focusing on if they had a single ounce, one cintilla of true jounalism left in their collective system. This is the news, along with he attack itself, that should be grabbing healines:
"ARMED HEROINE PREVENTS SLAUGHTER AT CHURCH BY SHOOTING THE ATTACKER DEAD"
I am glad to see CNN, for at least the moment, giving her this exposure, but hopefully they will also focus on HOW she was able to accomplish it.
Finally, thank God that pastor there LISTENED to the inspiration he felt regarding protecting his flock, and then ACTED on it that morning by getting the additional security in place, which included, among other things as I understand it, getting his people to safe places within the church, each group protected by an armed security guard, and getting them out of the line of fire...as well as having this particular security guard near him who was able (and WILLING) to react to the attack by taking the fight directly to the perp and taking him down.
Without such actions and plan, there would have been a much, much more horrific body count I am afraid...which just punctuates the point of arming the people so they can stop such attacks as they develop.
She did her duty. That's better than being a hero.