Yesterday I watched from my neighborhood as Canadian military personnel arrived in a helicopter and, from that hovering helicopter, rescued a crane operator who was trapped at the end of the arm of the crane, due to a huge fire and smoke below the crane (and the crane’s cab). I also witnessed, as so many others have, the swift, prolonged, and skilled actions of numerous fire fighters, police, and other emergency responders and technicians, as well as volunteers who all, in their own roles and ways, have been working to respond to a massive and very dangerous fire and situation here in Kingston, which began yesterday afternoon.

I feel compelled to say thank you, to everyone who has been working so hard in this current situation, and to everyone who works effortfully to help others each day, to those who don courage and, in addition to rest and other activities, also do the heroic for no other reason than to help make life better (or possible) for one another.

I was reminded too of a quote I came across and jotted down sometime over the last six months.

Heroes are those who can somehow resist the power of the situation and act out of noble motives, or behave in ways that do not demean others when they easily can.

—Philip Zimbardo

There are many ways to do courageous things, some are high profile, some are not. In all cases, I wish to offer my deep respect (and appreciation) to each person who practices the heroic, acting not out of fear but out of the desire to help another person’s life or other beings’ lives be better.