What IS bravery? Today in Australia, a man was awarded a medal for bravery
for, last year, rescuing a person from a burning car. Many years back I
witnessed an accident just ahead of me and saw the front of the car that had
a head on with a truck smashed in, the truck driver jump out to inspect the
damage to the truck and the car roll into a ditch where no-one was present
but road workers would be working when they got in. So, I jump out of the
car, tell my wife to drive the car way past the accident in case it explodes
and I run to the car to see the guy behind the half a steering wheel left,
the part of his face under his nose to his mouth smashed to a pulp. I tried
to get the guy out but he started fighting me in his state, partially
conscious and totally senseless. I grabbed him and told him to raise his
arms and do it NOW or we will BOTH die when this car explodes. He seemed to
get that through the fog he must have been feeling and raised his arms. I
undid his seat belt, put my arms under his and pulled him up the rise of a
pile of dirt at the side of the road and then down the other side, whereupon
BOOM, the car goes up in flames. On my way towards the car, I could see fuel
leaking out and broken wiring arcing everywhere. I was sh.t scared, more
than I had been scared of anything in my adult life. Later, when the police
were interviewing me as the only person who had witnessed the accident, they
mentioned that it was lucky the car exploded. I asked why and he said if I
had have dragged the guy out and it didn't blow up BUT I had caused him more
damage, depending on the damage, if he had died, I would be sent to gaol. I
could also have been sued by him if he didn't die but it caused him other
damage. That was all that happened for me. I wasn't brave. I wasn't
attempting to be brave. I just did what came naturally. However, I did find
out what sort of adult male I was which was something I didn't know before
then.

Bravery is in the eye of the reporter or the person being "saved". If what I
did was supposed to be "bravery" then I can tell you, first hand, that
"bravery" is the feeling of being an adult NOT wanting to do what you are
running to do, asking yourself what the F*** you think you are doing,
feeling like crying like a 5 year old and still being able to work out what
to do through all that. If that's bravery, it wasn't what I thought it was!

John Lommis,
I have enjoyed many of your posts. You sound like a nice guy. I was
struck by your comment "Church and stuff don't help..". That is not
true for everybody. When I was waiting to be operated on, the comment
from family and friends that I found the most comfort in was when
people said "I'll pray for you." To me, God seems closer when I'm in
trouble.
Steve U