Blessed Are the Peacemakers

Another story from Georgia, one well worth reading, is the story of Antoinette Tuff. She stopped a school shooting in DeKalb County the other day by talking the shooter down -- buying time for the children to be evacuated.

It's nice when that works. Of course, it depends on the shooter being willing to be talked down, which isn't always reliable. Nevertheless, it worked this time. Her heroic courage may have saved many lives.

5 comments:

Texan99 said...

"I'm not the hero," she said. "I was terrified."

Yeah, I don't think there's a rule that says the hero can't be terrified! She's the hero because she was terrified but still put her body between the gunman and her kids, and managed to make a human connection with him that persuaded him to stop. Good on her.

Cass said...

And good on Grim :)

Eric Blair said...

Well, the guy appears to have been trying to commit suicide by cop, So I'm not entirely sure he was ever going to shoot anybody in the first place.

Doesn't detract from her deed any, but he obviously wasn't the insane person the Newtown shooter was.

E Hines said...

...he obviously wasn't the insane person the Newtown shooter was.

That's differently saned; the NSA is reading.

The lady, though, Ms Tough (sp), was enormously courageous. Of course she was terrified; her life and the lives of others were, as far as she knew, in the wind. It's easy to be brave when you don't understand the situation.

Eric Hines

douglas said...

Courage is precisely acting as though you aren't terrified when you are in fact terrified. If you aren't, it isn't courage.