We Are Not Heroes: It’s Just About… Life.

“We were at the wrong place at the wrong time, but we did the right thing”.

Talk about doing more and becoming more than maybe you ever thought you could. That’s a quote from one of the staff members of Forum, the restaurant at the center of the Boston Marathon bombing on Monday.

I’ve said it before about this blog, it’s not about the news of the day, but I will stop in my tracks anytime to share a story of inspiration, about human beings helping one another, this is such a story.

The story comes from Rock Center, with Brian Williams. I do enjoy watching that program, but normally only the last ten minutes, because toward the end of the broadcast the producers go around the globe to find the quirkiest, most eye-catching, or outside-the-box stories of the week. It always leaves me smiling. Obviously last night was different, but the story, while not putting a smile on my face, left one on my heart.

I’m sharing the link at the bottom of the blog, but here are some highlights. It is the story of the staff at Forum, a restaurant only 200 yards from the marathon finish line. The staff watched the pure excitement of the day turn into a scene of horror, right before their eyes, as the second bomb exploded… directly in front of the restaurant.

“Oh my G-d, is this really happening”?, said Johsua Glover, assistant manager at the restaurant. It was really happening, but these employees, in the middle of the chaos, did not run. They stayed. They did what they could to help people. Grabbing ice, towels… and looking outside in shock, awe and bewilderment at the carnage.

Julie Weeden, a former employee of Forum, had come back to the restaurant just for Patriots Day. She decided to work one more time, at the place she called the best restaurant and bar in Boston. She was right in the middle when the blast happened, “You just go and do what you can to help people. There was so much blood, you know, and you don’t stop and think, you don’t give yourself a chance to realize what is actually going on”. One of Julie’s friends, Heather, was injured in the blast. She had come to see Julie that day, only because Julie was working again at the bar. In tears, Julie now says she feels guilty… guilty because her friend came to see her… and now Heather was undergoing surgery to re-attach her foot. You can understand Julie’s feelings. When someone you love is hurt, body, heart, or soul, you want to take that hurt for yourself.

Joshua Glover says his most enduring image is of one of the bartenders, “He was sitting on the floor, he had an injured woman’s head on his lap. He was just stroking her hair, comforting her. And to me that was all she needed. In a horrible time, that was a beautiful thing to see. Just something so simple”.

It is simple. It is what we, as Americans, we as people, we as humans do for each other in a time of need. You don’t turn and run, you stop and help. It’s what we’ve always done, what we will always do. No one on a mission of terror, on a campaign to cause pain and suffering will ever win. In his address to the nation last night, President Obama reinforced the message, “We have the courage, resilience, and spirit to overcome these challenges and to go forward as one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

We are all in this together. We all live this journey called life and we deserve for this journey to be all it can be. How dare someone else try and steal our dreams. Those who have no heart can never steal ours, we will overcome every time. The power of love, of humanity, is incomparable, unbeatable, unstoppable.

Joshua’s quote is worth repeating. When asked if the staff of the restaurant consider themselves heroes, he replied, “We were at the wrong place, at the wrong time, but we did the right thing”.

Heart over horror, every time.

Want to be uplifted this weekend? Then take eight minutes of your life and take a look at the link below:
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/21134540/vp/51603262#51603262
(If you can’t view the link, go to www.nbcnews.com)

Until next time, thanks for taking the time.

Mark