This morning on the show my partner Shannon and I were talking about this extraordinary woman we ran across in the news. She is 80 years old and from South Dakota. The other day she went outside only to see her border collie dog getting ready to square off against a mountain lion. I think we know what would be the end result there.
First let me remind you I am an animal lover. But I think we all recognize extraordinary circumstances when we see them. She went back inside, (and keep in mind she is 80,) grabbed a rifle and fired. She missed. Went back inside to call 911. Came back out fired again and killed the lion! And the dog is OK! Now I gotta think that she's a hero. At least to her dog! Her name is Martha Smith. (How fitting...Martha!)
It got me thinking about my own mother about 15 years ago at the age of 65 or so, her dog Mariah fell through the ice of a nearby pond. Being alone at the time she went out into the muddy pond breaking the ice and with icy water up to her chest saved the dog. She had to go out about 50 feet or so! What was she doing??????????
But you know remarkable things can happen in remarkable circumstances and these are two examples. I'm sure you know of many more. Hero's don't have to be written up in the paper or be put on tabloid TV. And it's better that way. True hero's after an heroic act don't even look back on the episode as heroic. There was just something that needed to be done and they did it. It's fun to hear of the Martha's of the world!
Lord knows we have enough Zero's that we hear about every day. We can use a good HERO once in a while. I hope that we can always clearly differentiate the difference. Good lesson here. There is a definite line drawn here between hero and zero...and Martha did it. Look, I know when I hear of an heroic act...and Martha did one. Being heroic is not being in the paper or on the news every day. It's not making movies, scoring touchdowns, hitting home runs, or being chased by the paparazzi! Shooting a mountain lion at 80 to save a dog ....IS.
Amazing people these simple hero's. Sometimes springing into action takes a lot of guts.
But they understand that if you always do things the way you've always done them, you'll always get what you always got. And sometimes that's just not good enough.
You know I've been hearing enough about writers strikes, big time contracts and Brittany lately, I needed somewhere else to hang my hat for while. Nice job Martha, we needed that!
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Scott: I was thinking about the adrenaline that flows in those special times in life. I had a situation back in the early
1960's. I owned a 1956 Chevrolet at that time. I was changing a flat tire on our dirt street. A lot of streets weren't paved in those days and they weren't very even. I had jacked up the car and taken the tire off the car. Foolishly I was seated on the ground and had my legs under the car as I put a tire back on the car. The car fell sideways off the jack. All I could think of was it going to cut off my legs. I grabbed hold of the car fender and lifted the car up and got my feet from underneath the car before letting the car fall from the jack.
Sometimes you can do amazing things when the adrenaline kicks in.
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