Timeless stories

This is one.

Chris Walsh, a Navy medic assigned to a US Marines weapons company, was riding in a Humvee with three Marines, when a hidden bomb exploded in the dirt road just in front of them.

Even before the thick dust had settled, the Marines, and Walsh, were out of the vehicle, looking for the insurgents who had planted the remote-control device. The triggerman, as several who joined the pursuit vividly recall, was spotted first on a rooftop, then on the ground making his escape through the maze of ramshackle houses that line the road.

When Walsh and the Marines came to one doorway, M-4 rifles up and ready, a woman emerged from a room, holding an infant and saying, over and over again, “Baby. Baby sick.”

That was the amazing beginning of an incredible story. The triumph of good over evil and love over death is too little covered in the big media. Especially when it comes to the troops dedicating themselves to the service and protection of other.

Monica forwarded this story after reading the post about another serviceman who went to extraordinary lengths and effort for one little Iraqi boy.

I think these stories are more ‘ordinary’ than we know. People are doing brave and heroic things for other people all over the place, all the time, under the ‘radar’ of mass media. We need to hear them and pass them on. They inspire nobility and selflessness. Like the story of Chris Walsh and baby Mariam…

Mariam’s grandfather took Maureen Walsh’s hand in his and, speaking in Arabic, said, “Thank you for your son.”

Mariam’s family does not believe it was coincidence that Chris Walsh was the one who came into their house in hot pursuit of someone who had tried to kill him and instead put down his gun and picked up Mariam.

“This,” her grandfather said, nodding solemnly, “was an act of God. God sent Chris. To Mariam. So she will live.”