When something happens in front of you — a car accident, someone having medical problems or even a crime — the way you react could mean the difference between life and death to someone, including yourself.
Last week, a John Essex High School student passed out and stopped breathing. On Wednesday, we reported about the people who helped her until the ambulance arrived to take her to the hospital. People like you and me who went to the volleyball match at Sweet Water High School and happened to be in the right place at the right time.
Today, we are reporting about other people who arrived at the scene, who are paid to be in the right place at the right time to use their skills and talents to help others, to fix what is wrong and even to save lives. That they are paid to do so does not make them less of a hero.
We call people heroes who want to help others, who stop what they are doing and what they are involved with to help someone else who is in need of help. We call them heroes regardless of whether they are successful or not.
The action of helping, in and of itself, is heroic. If they are successful, then that is the bonus.
That so many heroes were on hand to help this young lady in the little town of Sweet Water says a lot about the people in our county. There were people who were trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) who never thought that they would use it, but were grateful that they knew how. There were health care professionals, paramedics and nurses, who are trained to handle this and other health emergencies every day, who were also able to keep the student breathing and stable.
In the news stories that you read in the newspaper or see on TV, so much is left out not out of disrespect but because the information is just not available sometimes. Who were the members of the fire department or police department who were on the scene? Sometimes, things happen so quickly that no one but the emergency workers know, and they are not accustomed to calling the media to tell them that they showed up at an emergency. That is their job.
How many angels can one person have? I know that the student is very grateful that so many people were on hand who wanted to help her and were able to do what they could to make sure she was all right, just as the people who stopped or came to help are also grateful for her recovery.
Heroes are those who help people and inspire people. Those people on the scene who helped in one way or another — even by directing traffic or helping students — are all heroes, whether or not they get recognition or accolades for their actions. Perhaps, through their actions, they can inspire others to be heroes, too.

David B. Snow is the managing editor of The Demopolis Times.