The expression “not all heroes wear capes” is a bit overused, no? Of course not all heroes wear capes. Most people in general have never even owned a cape, no less wore one. In fact, since most heroes, at least real ones, are our military, our police, first responders and the occasional good Samaritan, I’d venture to say NONE of them were wearing capes. Don’t fact check me, cause there’s always an outlier.
How about a happy story today? How about some real heroism, even if no capes were involved? What would you do if you saw a house on fire? Call 911? That is probably the first thought. I mean, firefighters have special training and equipment. All I have is a cape. Luckily for one Long Island family, an Amazon driver finishing up his route delivered a big box of bravery as he rescued the entire family, including the two dogs from potential disaster. Check this out from the Washington Examiner:
A New York Amazon driver is being praised after he rescued a family from a burning home on Saturday.
The incident occurred in the afternoon while 22-year-old Kevin Rivera was delivering packages on a Long Island route, according to a report. He said he saw the flames and jumped into action.
“I just rushed in because I didn’t want nobody to die in that house,” Rivera said.
Who does this? Who just runs into a burning building? Kevin Rivera does, that’s who. I suspect after a full day of delivering people’s impulse and late-night drunken purchases for Amazon, you would just want to head home, have a beverage or two and enjoy the rest of your day. If rescuing a family from a burning house is on the route, Rivera is delivering!
Rivera evacuated the entire family despite a reported language barrier. A mother, a grandmother, and four children, including an infant, were saved, along with the family’s two dogs.
When the residents saw the fire, “they just started crying. They just got emotional,” Rivera said.
Language barriers are tough. I can’t even talk to customer support sometimes. That’s not a race statement either. Ever try to negotiate a thick Eastern Kentucky accent? Good luck!
The levelheaded reaction in the face of an emergency, along with the ability to navigate a language barrier is remarkable. If Jeff Bezos himself isn’t handing this man a plaque, it’s a shame. Exemplary people like Rivera should be held up and celebrated. We live in a very ego-centric world where no one wants to get involved. People are more concerned with filming something with their phone instead of stepping up or intervening. This me-first culture needs more people like this.
A lot of people are stepping away from doing things today, and he stepped toward this,” said Amanda Johnson, a neighbor who filmed Rivera’s actions. “It’s pretty amazing that Kevin did this.”
Rivera, whose boss at Amazon said he will be celebrated, is still concerned with those he rescued.
“I wanted to see if they were OK and tell them I was always going to be there for them,” he said. “To be honest, I just feel great that I did something.”
Stories like this tend to get lost in the 24/7 bad news cycle, and that’s a tragedy. Ordinary people like Kevin Rivera doing extraordinary things give you hope that perhaps all humanity hasn’t gone to crap, and there is hope for the future.
This story syndicated with permission from For the Love of News