We Need More Heroes - Spiderman is not going to save us. Liviu Librescu may.

National Review Online ^ | April 18, 2007 | James Bowman

[presidio9]

In this photo released by the Librescu family in Israel, Tuesday, April 17, 2007, Romanian-born lecturer Liviu Librescu is seen in an undated photo. The Israeli lecturer killed in the Virginia Tech massacre was a Holocaust survivor who later escaped from Communist Romania. Relatives said Librescu, an internationally respected aeronautics engineer and a lecturer at Virginia Tech for 20 years, saved the lives of several students by blocking the gunman before he was gunned down in Monday's shooting, which coincided with Israel's Holocaust remembrance day. (AP Photo/Librescu Family, ho)

[scouse]

I think Bush will give this hero a medal.

[Rummyfan]

Excellent post thanks.

[Rummyfan]

Simon Heffer suggests later in his article that the British ministry of defense should provide members of the armed forces with DVDs of old movies like The Colditz Story, The Cruel Sea, One of Our Aircraft Is Missing, or Carve Her Name with Pride

A viewing of ZULU wouldn't hurt either.

[AprilfromTexas]

Thanks for posting. This is a good commentary on points I’ve heard mentioned over the last couple of days.

[fishtank]

He has 540 author hits on Google scholar.

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_q=&num=100&btnG=Search+Scholar&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_occt=any&as_sauthors=librescu%2C+l&as_publication=&as_ylo=&as_yhi=&as_allsubj=all&hl=en&lr=

Truly a soldier and a knightly gentleman.

[Molly Pitcher]

This Bowman column is perfect for you! I love his writing, and this piece is excellent!

Plus, I agree with your Obama comments on the other thread but didn't want to post politics there in the wake of Kay's death.

[Puddleglum]

This man is a true hero. God bless him and his family, and God let his example take root in us.

[JamesP81]

Heroism is by nature a manly trait, and our culture frowns on anything smacking of masculinity. All men, all real men take joy in the opportunity to perform deeds of heroism. Unfortunately, real men are running in fairly short supply these days.

[kms61]

again, it’s easy to pontificate from behind the safety of one’s keyboard about what the people in those classrooms should have done. I find it very distasteful, and speaks more about the character of the writers than anything else. NOBODY knows how they’ll react in that situation until it happens to them. The instinctive reaction is to hit the deck. The military spends a lot of time and effort in training to overcome that instinct, and even then it doesn’t always work. But a bunch of untrained civilians are cowards because they didn’t rush the gunman en masse.

Prof Librescu was a bona fide hero, not doubt about that. But calling out murder victims over what they should or shouldn’t have done is a black mark against the several pundits who have engaged in that over the last few days.

[erikm88]

I think the author also meant that instead of the kid recording the events on his cell phone, that they energy would have been better spent trying to quell the gunman or assisting those around him in escaping....

[kms61]

that’s possible, and this guy is not as over the top as some pundits have been. Derbyshire for one, and another columnist whose name escapes me.

[trimom]

Maybe they forgot the call of “Let’s Roll”. Someone....or a collection of someone’s could have changed it all.

[theFIRMbss]

>We Need More Heroes - Spiderman is not going to save us

Is Paris Hilton A Superhero?       |       Is Paris Hilton A Supervillain?

[91B]

Why? Rick Rescorla hasn't been awarded one yet.

The media prefers reporting victims instead of heroes (heroes usually being big, strong men who act rather than whine which stands in sharp contrast to most media types). Given the way that Oprah and her ilk have degraded the term a good many people have no idea what a hero really is.

[MizSterious]

Go walk your yorkie. I think you are just experiencing some sour grapes because someone’s recognized a genuine hero in a sea of non-heroes.

[Lexington Green]

http://www.rickrescorla.com/

Why no medal for Rick?

“For Rick Rescorla, this was a natural death. People like Rick, they don’t die old men. They aren’t destined for that and it isn’t right for them to do so. It just isn’t right, by God, for them to become feeble, old, and helpless sons of bitches. There are certain men born in this world, and they’re supposed to die setting an example for the rest of the weak bastards we’re surrounded with.” —Dan Hill

[91B]

Maybe none of us do know what we would do in that situation, but once upon a time it was understood what a man was expected to do.

Mark Steyn has a piece up at the National Review in which he says that saying "none of us knows what we would do" makes cowardice the default position. The kid described here would have done more good for everyone by throwing his cellphone at the murderer.

[kms61]

I know a hero when I see one. I don’t need Mark Steyn bloviatiating about how he would handle the situation.