Note to Trump, Disney, Great White Way, etc. -- Leave this fine man alone, please.
We've all read the incredible story of the Father from Harlem who risked his life to save another's.
But what comes next for this hero?
......This week? Next month? Next year? Ten years out?
======================================
Adapted from the AP story....
NYC subway savior showered with gifts
NEW YORK - A man's daring rescue of a teen who fell on the subway tracks earned him the unique title "the hero of Harlem" on Thursday, plus $10,000 from Donald Trump and a trip to Disney World. Mayor Michael Bloomberg bestowed the title upon A. as he presented him with the city's highest award for civic achievement, calling the 50-year-old construction worker "a great man — a man who makes us all proud to be New Yorkers."
Past recipients of the Bronze Medallion have included Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali and Willie Mays. The last honoree was Housing Authority employee F.V., who caught a baby thrown from a burning building in 2005.
On Tuesday A. saw H., a 19-year-old film student, suffering a seizure while waiting for a train. After stumbling down the platform H. fell onto the tracks with a train on its way into the station. A., traveling with his two young daughters, realized something needed to be done and thought: "I'm the only one to do it."
He jumped down to the tracks, a few feet below platform level, and rolled with the young man into a drainage trough between the rails as the southbound No. 1 train came into the 137th Street/City College station. Some train cars passed over A. and H. with only inches to spare.
Neither man suffered any harm from the incident.
H., hospitalized for his medical condition, was in stable condition Thursday.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Executive Director Elliot Sander called A.'s action "a death-defying act of bravery. We truly have not seen anything like this. He was at the right place at the right time and did the right thing."
After the City Hall ceremony, a limousine whisked A. — who also received a year's worth of free subway rides — to a meeting with Trump, who presented him with $10,000.
He also has received $2,500 from the New York Film Academy to start a scholarship fund for his children, and tickets and a backstage tour to the Broadway musical "The Lion King."
A., who was seen on the morning news show circuit Thursday and taped a Letterman appearance later in the day, will be flown to Los Angeles for an appearance next week on Ellen DeGeneres' show.
As for his new celebrity, he concluded, "good things happen when you do good."
====================================
The most famous and haunting quote from Anne Frank's Diary: "I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are really good at heart."
-------------------------------------------------
Isn't it enough that the man risked his life in the first place that we have to possibly destroy it later?
He did what he did because he is good at heart.
But to be showered with fraudulent love and fake attention makes us think that maybe he's the only one.
Be well, Father from Harlem.
But what comes next for this hero?
......This week? Next month? Next year? Ten years out?
======================================
Adapted from the AP story....
NYC subway savior showered with gifts
NEW YORK - A man's daring rescue of a teen who fell on the subway tracks earned him the unique title "the hero of Harlem" on Thursday, plus $10,000 from Donald Trump and a trip to Disney World. Mayor Michael Bloomberg bestowed the title upon A. as he presented him with the city's highest award for civic achievement, calling the 50-year-old construction worker "a great man — a man who makes us all proud to be New Yorkers."
Past recipients of the Bronze Medallion have included Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali and Willie Mays. The last honoree was Housing Authority employee F.V., who caught a baby thrown from a burning building in 2005.
On Tuesday A. saw H., a 19-year-old film student, suffering a seizure while waiting for a train. After stumbling down the platform H. fell onto the tracks with a train on its way into the station. A., traveling with his two young daughters, realized something needed to be done and thought: "I'm the only one to do it."
He jumped down to the tracks, a few feet below platform level, and rolled with the young man into a drainage trough between the rails as the southbound No. 1 train came into the 137th Street/City College station. Some train cars passed over A. and H. with only inches to spare.
Neither man suffered any harm from the incident.
H., hospitalized for his medical condition, was in stable condition Thursday.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Executive Director Elliot Sander called A.'s action "a death-defying act of bravery. We truly have not seen anything like this. He was at the right place at the right time and did the right thing."
After the City Hall ceremony, a limousine whisked A. — who also received a year's worth of free subway rides — to a meeting with Trump, who presented him with $10,000.
He also has received $2,500 from the New York Film Academy to start a scholarship fund for his children, and tickets and a backstage tour to the Broadway musical "The Lion King."
A., who was seen on the morning news show circuit Thursday and taped a Letterman appearance later in the day, will be flown to Los Angeles for an appearance next week on Ellen DeGeneres' show.
As for his new celebrity, he concluded, "good things happen when you do good."
====================================
The most famous and haunting quote from Anne Frank's Diary: "I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are really good at heart."
-------------------------------------------------
Isn't it enough that the man risked his life in the first place that we have to possibly destroy it later?
He did what he did because he is good at heart.
But to be showered with fraudulent love and fake attention makes us think that maybe he's the only one.
Be well, Father from Harlem.
posted by joe sweeney at 4:55 AM
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