Heroes don’t always wear special capes

Instead, they spring into action in the face of tragedy

In the face of tragedy, humanity finds strength. We find solidarity in these moments, as we use our grief and our shock to help others survive. In those moments, the heroes don’t wear capes. They are the neighbors who jump into action to help, digging through rubble looking for survivors.

They are the strangers passing by who hear noises coming from debris, and spring into action.

They are the people who help one another in times of need, and lately, they’ve been busy.

Tuesday, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake rocked Mexico, toppling homes and leveling schools and businesses across Mexico City and neighboring areas.

As of Wednesday, more than 225 people were confirmed dead, but heroes were everywhere.

“Doctors, dentists and lawyers lined up alongside with construction workers and street sweepers, handing buckets of debris or chunks of concrete handto-hand down the line,” The Associated Press reported Wednesday, as volunteers searched for survivors.

The AP noted, “Even Mexico City’s normally raucous motorcycle clubs swung into action,” as the group used motorcades to help open up lanes for emergency vehicles to get through.

In other areas, rescuers formed human chains to remove rubble amid efforts to reach survivors, move supplies into places and help throughout the night.

We see these heroes over and over again. After Hurricane Harvey ravaged Texas, heroes took to the flooded communities in their fishing boats, rescuing stranding people and pets.

In Florida in the wake of Irma, neighbors helped neighbors survive amid the sweltering heat as they waited for power to be restored.

Now, Hurricane Maria is pummeling the Caribbean just weeks after Irma and Harvey, and Bloomberg News reports that combined losses from the three hurricanes could total somewhere around $300 billion in the U.S. and the Caribbean.

When the storms recede, however, it will once again be the same scenario — neighbors helping neighbors, the quiet heroes who step forward to help in those moments when crisis looms.

To those quiet heroes in every community near and far, thank you.

Our thoughts are with the victims of the Mexico quake today, as well as those facing Hurricane Maria.

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