From afar, bravery isn't so difficult
One of the most talked-about news stories last week was Tuesday's brutal pit bull attack, in which Steven Herrera was mauled by three of his brother's dogs.
Thankfully, he survived the attack, in large part because of the heroic actions of neighbor Andy Castaneda, a neighbor who heard Herrera's screams for help and responded.
Armed with a stout walking stick, the 69-year-old charged into the fenced backyard and beat back the frenzied dogs so Herrera could escape.
Reporter Steven Mayer's story focused on Castaneda's response.
As the 69-year-old approached the fenced backyard where the attack was taking place, a neighbor warned him not to enter.
"One of the men said 'Don't go in there,'" Castaneda recalled.
"But I had to do something. The big male had him by the arm and the two females were on his legs."
Another witness, Damon Hill, said he believed the dogs would have killed Herrera had Castaneda not intervened.
The day the story and photo were published, we posed a question to readers on The Californian's Facebook page: "If you saw someone being savagely attacked by pit bulls, do you think you would put yourself in danger to help them out?"
Virtually everyone who answered the question responded with an emphatic "yes." One alluded to the fact that several neighbors had gathered around the fence and were witnessing the attack. But without a weapon, they were reluctant to enter the fenced backyard, and were only onlookers.
The question was the subject of a lively discussion in our morning editors' meeting. Most of us responded the same way as those readers who answered the Facebook question.
Of course we would act! How could we stand by and watch?
Davin McHenry, our breaking news editor, made an astute observation: It's easy to judge those who hung back outside the fence and watched. If we were armed only with our cell phones, we might not be so brave.
And we, too, might simply stand by, leaving the rescue to someone else.
In our dreams, we're all superheroes. Surely we'd run into the burning building to save the baby. We'd all rush in front of the oncoming truck to snatch the toddler out of the way -- or dive off the bridge to pull the unconscious driver out of the submerged car.
In real life, things aren't so simple. Those of us who aren't trained to respond to life-threatening situations might find ourselves paralyzed by fear.
Or we might simply find the unfolding of a tragedy so surreal that we can't process what we're seeing. We might find it so difficult to comprehend what to do that we do nothing.
It seems to me, though, that the real-life opportunities to show courage probably aren't limited to pit bull attacks and burning buildings. Sometimes the fears that immobilize us have nothing to do with physical peril.
Sometimes peer pressure can prevent us from intervening. The 2006 hazing incident involving a group of high school boys, which we reported this past June, is an example that comes to mind.
But there are other, more mundane occasions when we may fail to summon the courage to act -- or even to simply speak up and voice our objections.
We need to celebrate the people in our community who put the well-being of others above their own. Whether they wear a badge or simply good neighbors like Andy Castaneda, they're to be commended and thanked for putting themselves at risk to help others.
But we need to remember that heroism and courage don't always involve blood and physical danger.
Here's hoping we have the wisdom to know when we need to intervene -- and may we find the courage to do the right thing.
