Do you ever wonder how you’d react given a set of certain circumstances? I mean, we’ve all heard the anecdotal stories about Herculean feats performed by those in desperate need, such as the classic one about people who single-handedly lift vehicles off of victims.
Recently, a story came out of Oklahoma in which an 18-year-old mother of a three-month-old boy shot and killed an armed intruder.
The mother, Sarah Shepard McKinley, was widowed last Christmas Day and (yes, the details have all the makings for a tear-jerking docudrama) found herself in the frightening position of having not one, but two intruders trying to break down her door.
The story is amazing in that this young woman had the wherewithal to plop a bottle in her infant son’s mouth so he wouldn’t cry and give away her position in the home and then shoved a couch up against a door to buttress it against the intruders.
I listened to the 9-1-1 call and the depth of calm and courage she displayed throughout her 21-minute ordeal astounded me. At one point she coolly asked the dispatcher if she was allowed to shoot the intruder. The dispatcher, just as equally cool, told Sarah she couldn’t tell her that she could, but advised her to do whatever it takes to protect her family.
Sarah did. She shot one of the two intruders dead with a 12-guage shot gun. She told reporters that when the man finally broke through her door she saw a glint of silver in his hand and believed it to be a pistol. She was wrong. It wasn’t a pistol, it was a knife with a 12-inch blade.
If you Google it you will find several other riveting parts to this story and a whole lot of speculation, but in the end I can’t help but be amazed at Sarah’s courage. I guess that goes to show you how mama bears can be when it comes to protecting their cubs.
There comes a time in our lives, I think, when we are all faced with hard decisions. If we’re lucky we can take hours, days or months to ponder them in order to come up with the best solution.
Sometimes, however, we don’t have that luxury and so we must resort to gut reactions and stark fear. Occasionally stupidity plays a role.
I had one of those stupid moments when I was about 18 and living in Columbus, Ohio. As I was walking down the sidewalk I heard someone running up behind me and before I knew it, my purse was rudely ripped from my shoulder.
Without thought I immediately gave chase across a four-lane highway, not looking left nor right, but simply running down this person who dared to abscond with my purse (which likely only contained a couple of dollars, if I was lucky). I didn’t know if he had a knife or gun and quite honestly, at that point I didn’t care. I was angry!
I did catch up to him and gave him a verbal beating. It’s something to laugh at now because that man, who far outweighed me, was actually afraid of me and couldn’t apologize enough.
But the sheer stupidity of me running after a purse snatcher still makes me shake my head.
The point I’m trying to make is that there comes a time in life when we must stand our ground or become a victim.
If we’re lucky, it’s in our control and we get to participate in that choice.
The tricky part is making the right choice.