“Like many other words and phrases in our country, hero is losing some of its meaning by excessive usage.”
Hero is getting diluted but she is a hero. She coulda run the other way and called police. Heck the police in Columbine didn’t even take as much action as she did.
You can do your job and be a hero. BTW, she was a volunteer and so technically it wasn’t even a job.
From everything I've read, this wasn't because they were chicken.
They were following doctrine, which reguired not directly confronting the gunmen. They thought they were facing a hostage situation, not a massacre.
Doctrine has since been changed, but it really isn't fair to blame the Columbine cops for doing what they had been taught was right, and that had frankly worked pretty well up to then.
Anymore than it is right to blame the passengers on the planes that hit the WTC for not fighting back. They were following doctrine, too. The heroes on Flight 93 had the advantage of having the time to find out that doctrine didn't work anymore and devising an alternate one.
Actually, she is a heroine. But then, proper usage of language is being diluted as well. (This comment is not directed at you personally; it's simply an observation.)