A bit of good news from the Colorado shooting, lifesaver hero: Teen Rescued Woman and Kids During Colorado Shooting After Boyfriend Abandoned

Them.. This brave young man is Jarell Brooks. Here is a quote posted on his Facebook page on January 16th : The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.- Martin Luther King.

A Colorado teen helped save the lives of a woman and her kids, even though it resulted in him being shot. The woman -who had been attending the screening of “Dark Knight Rises” with her boyfriend, young child, and 4 month old infant – found herself abandoned when the shooting began. Her boyfriend dropped their 7 month old on the floor, jumped from the balcony, and drove himself home. Luckily, Jarell Brooks, 19, came to the woman’s aid. While trying to escape the gunfire, Brooks says he saw a woman, later identified as Patricia Legarreta, struggling to get herself and her two children out. He said he crawled on top of Legarreta in an attempt to push her and the kids out the door but then couldn’t get out himself. “At the end of the aisle, I ran into a woman. She yelled, ‘My kids!’ and I saw she had two young kids with her,” he told ABC News. “I made sure they got in the aisle and pushed behind her to make sure she got out of there.” “We fell together,” Brooks said. “I picked myself back up and continued to the back exit door, on one leg.” “I was thinking, I have to get this family out, without getting hit myself. I managed to do one,” Brooks told ABC News. Jarell told ABC News that the bullet that struck his leg could have hit Patricia’s 4-month-old infant if not for his body covering the family. But he refuses to be called a hero. “I don’t want to say hero necessarily, I was just in the wrong place at the right time,” he told ABC News’ Chris Cuomo during a TV interview. “I was in the wrong place because I had to deal with the situation, but I was there at the right time be-cause I was there to help a family.” After she recovered in the hospital, Patricia confirmed the story, and said she’s thankful there are young men in the world like Jarrell. I saw someone in distress,’ he said. ‘I’m not the kind of person who would let them be in that situation and me selfishly trying to get myself out of the equation… all she’s trying to do is protect her kids, so I felt like if I could get her out, then maybe, I would have gotten out maybe I wouldn’t, as long as I knew she was OK I was alright.’

Iris Mack, ABC News

July 24th 2012

LIFESAVER HERO: JARELL BROOKS

HERO’S HERO:

About Muhammad Ali "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee..." During the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, the world looked on as a determined Muhammad Ali ac-cepted the Olympic torch and, with hands shaking from the effects of Parkinson's Disease, lit the flame that would burn throughout the sixteen-day event. It was just one of the many times the legen-dary boxer and humanitarian has lit up the world. In a career that included 56 wins, three world championships, and a gold medal from the 1960 Rome Olympics, Ali demonstrated not just pure power and athleticism, but bravery, integrity, and a gene-rosity that transcends athletics, race, religion, and politics. In addition to his prowess in the ring, Ali dedicated his life to fighting for his own and others' civil rights. Beloved and respected, he had made an impact on many continents. Just before the start of the first Gulf War, for example, Ali negotiated the release of fifteen hostages held in Iraq. He has been ho-nored as a UN Messenger of Peace and is a major contributor to numerous humanitarian causes throughout the world, donating both publicly and anonymously. In 2005, The Muhammad Ali Center opened its doors in Louisville, Kentucky, to help young people "find greatness within," by focusing on the themes that have carried Ali through his own life: confidence, conviction, dedication, respect, spirituality, and generosity.

NELSON MANDELA By Muhammad Ali

Nelson Mandela is my hero. His story has come to symbolize the struggle against the apartheid machine in South Africa. Apartheid, the terrible, and often violent, institutio-nalized racism that for so long held South African society in its grip, was not an easy po-licy to fight against--especially since he was oppressed within the system. Mandela un-derstands what it means to fight against enormous odds; he went to prison for nearly three decades for his work, because he knew there was no alternative. He believes that every human being is of equal value. Mandela is my hero because he survived many years of life as a subject of colonialism. As a child in Africa, Mandela was a victim of the European colonial project in that involved "civilizing" indigenous folks by si-lencing African lifeways in favor of so-called Eurocentric high culture. Perhaps finding his Xhosa name, Ro-lihlahla, too cumbersome or primitive, a teacher assigned him the decidedly more English "Nelson" when he was a student at a British colonial boarding school. Mandela is my hero because he embraces all people like brothers and sisters. He is one of the greatest civil rights leaders in world history. Mandela is my hero because his spirit cannot be crushed. Imprisoned for his political views in the early 1960s, Mandela refused to compromise his position, which was equality and justice for all people. He sacrificed his own freedom for the self-determination of all South Africans. He is courageous and uncompromising. Mandela is my hero because is a man of great personal honor, strength, and integrity, but he was always fighting for something greater than himself, and that was the freedom of an entire nation. It is painful to imagine that this man, who radiates so much love, who espoused so many truths, could have spent so much of his life in prison. Mandela is my hero because he triumphed over injustice, and not in a small way. Almost unimaginable just a few years before, Nelson Mandela became the first democratically-elected president of South Africa in 1994 and served in that position for five years. More than anyone in the world, Mandela embodies the hopes and dreams of a true, lasting justice and equality, not just for South Africans but for all people. It is Mandela—through his unselfish and constant presence on the international stage raising awareness about AIDS, peace, debt relief, the environment--who most inspires us to think responsibly of our fellow man and of our planet. Nelson Mandela has always inspired me to think beyond myself, to think of people in the wider world as part of a common humanity. I am blessed by his friendship. I love him for what he has accomplished, for what he has been through, for his journey forward. He remains a hallmark of what it really means to give of oneself selflessly--which is, indeed, a gift for us all.

FREEDOM HERO: IQBAL MASIH

Stephanie and Audrey myhero.com

August 30th, 2011

Iqbal Masih was a Pakistani boy, living life in a nightmare. At the age of four, his father sold him to a carpet store for twelve dollars. He was a slave, and worked on looms until the age of ten. He escaped, and was eventually saved by Ehsan Ulla Khan, founder of the Bondage Labor Liberation Front.

Iqbal suffered while working on the loom, and he refused to go back. He was both verbally and physically abused, and not well fed. Every night, he was chained to his carpet loom, on which he worked for over twelve hours a day. Because he had to bend over for so many hours, his back became curved, causing him to stop growing. His lungs were

affected as well. Because he inhaled a lot of dust from the factory, he had a hard time breathing. After Iqbal was rescued, he became a member of the Bondage Labor Liberation Front, ot BLLF. His speeches raised a lot of interest within Pakistan as to the labor conditions. Iqbal's began speaking internationally, making him a hero at the age of twelve! He was awarded the Reebok Human Rights Youth Award.

Most people think that children are not mature enough to make a difference, but clearly, Iqbal's actions prove that kids do matter.

Then, on April 16, 1995, Easter Sunday, Iqbal was murdered. News went flying around about the death of Iqbal Masih. The only thing that we can guess is that the Carpet Mafia murdered him, because Iqbals' protests had decreased the profits of the carpet mills. They wanted his im-pact to end, so they shot him with a rifle. He was just a normal twelve-year-old boy with a dream to help others.

Iqbal's speeches still live on today. Our world is still cruel and filled with hatred, but, because of people like Iqbal, we show that we can change it. Iqbal was truly an amazing person. He is defi-nitely a great hero.

ANIMAL HERO: BINTI JUA

Nancy Nickerson June 10th 2010

Binti Jua is the hero of the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, Illinois. The 8-year-old western lowland gorilla res-cued a 3-year-old child who climbed a railing and fell 18 feet into the zoo's exhibit. Zoo officials responded immediately, but it was Binti who got to the uncons-cious boy first and carried him to an area where the humans could attend to him. Her own 17-month-old baby, Koola, clutched her back throughout the inci-dent.

Binti Jua was born in 1988 at the Columbus Zoo, which has one of the most successful gorilla breeding programs in the country. Her father, Sunshine, was from the San Francisco Zoo and her mother, Lulu, was from the Bronx Zoo. Binti's Aunt, Koko (Sunshine's older sister), lives at the Gorilla Foundation in Woodside, California. She is famous for her extensive knowledge of American Sign Lan-guage, which she uses to communicate with humans and her Gorilla-friend, Michael.

Binti Jua was hand-reared at the San Francisco Zoo. Hand-reared animals often lack the mo-thering skills they would have obtained in the wild, so in 1991 she was moved to Chicago to be trained for motherhood. Binti Jua seems to have learned her lessons well. The little boy Binti Jua saved spent 4 days in the hospital and was then released. Binti Jua's gentleness made her a hero.

MOHANDAS K. GANDHI « We must be the change we wish to see in the world »

by Jeff Trussell, 10/13/2010 PEACEMAKER HERO:

In the early 1600s, sailors from Great Britain made their way to India. At that time, India was a country rich in traditions and culture thou-sands of years old. The British Empire took control of the government of India and forever changed the face of that country. Ancient tradi-tions and religions were thrown out, made illegal by ruthless British

generals eager to make India another England. As you can well imagine, the native people of In-dia suffered greatly, seeing their way of life trampled under the British desire to "civilize" their country.

For the longest time, nobody in India successfully fought back against the British and the oppres-sion they brought with them. This all changed when a small man, born in the ancient city of Por-bandar in 1869, stood up and said "Enough!" This man became known the world over as Gandhi, the mahatma or "Great Soul" of India.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's early years showed little sign of the great life he would go on to live. He went to school, was married and later became a rather unsuccessful, terribly shy lawyer. All of this changed, however, one fateful day when Gandhi was denied a seat on a stagecoach in South Africa. The racist driver had made him sit outside in the hot sun on a long trip to Pretoria, simply because he wasn't white. Gandhi, until now too shy to even speak in front of a judge, sued the railroad company and won. From that point on, Gandhi became the number-one spokesman for all powerless non-whites the world over.

After 20 years of aiding his fellow Indians in South Africa, Gandhi returned to India and picked up the fight against British oppression. Instead of encouraging native born Indians to take up arms and force the British colonists out of their country, Gandhi created a policy of non-violent protest. "Non-violence, " he said, "is a weapon for the brave."

For 20 years, non-violent protests, marches and strikes by the Indians wore down British resis-tance. Confronted by a slight man wearing only a plain cloth and accompanied by millions of fol-lowers armed not with weapons but love and truth, the British government in 1946 finally gave India its long-held dream of independence. The fight for India's freedom had been won without a battle having ever been fought.

Sadly, two years after his great victory, Gandhi was shot and killed by an assassin's bullet. But Gandhi's legacy lived on after his death, showing the world that one can be a hero and accom-plish great things without guns or swords or hatred. As Gandhi once said, "It is non-violence only when we love those that hate us. I know how difficult it is to follow this grand law of love, but are not all great and good things difficult to do? Love of the hater is the most difficult of all. But by the grace of God even this most difficult thing becomes easy to accomplish if we want to."