The bravery in our midst
We’re surrounded by bravery. Mostly it’s inconspicuous.The shuffling passer-by living with pain. The emotionally troubled neighbour for whom just getting through another day is, itself, a hard won victory. The griefstricken.The bullied or unpopular. The desperately worried. The terminally ill. The parent who is finding you can only be as happy as your unhappiest child.
Whether it lies beneath a sunny disposition or a careworn one, bravery like theirs tends not to attract headlines, medals or certificates. But society does tend to express its admiration when people are able to summons bravery in the extremities of a sudden crisis. The latest examples are Nightcaps men Conrad Waihape and Phil Manson who hazarded their own hides to get a neighbour out of his blazing home in 2015. Manson had been beaten back by the intense heat. Waihape, a volunteer fireman, was able to draw on his experience did emerge with Rudy Rach who, sadly, later died from his injuries.
The pair have received New Zealand Bravery Awards and they highlight that although circumstance had initially put them front and centre, a lot of teamwork, training and community spirit had come together that night. The significance of Waihape’s volunteer firefighter training needs to be recognised. Throughout the country, organisations reliant on volunteerism are under pressure. People who step forward to join brigades become part of a culture of camaraderie that is of value in itself, quite apart from the enormous contribution they make to their communities.
Time and again people in Waihape’s slightly embarrassed situation, asked about how they managed their heroics, say the same thing he said.’’You just do what you do. Your training kicks in.’’ Whether it’s people acting like this, partly on an educated basis, or others drawing purely on instinct and adrenaline, what matters most is not that we regard them as special. It’s better than that. They have drawn, deeply, on the best of what’s in any of us. Latent bravery. And it’s all the more empowered if we have taken steps to develop even rudimentary first aid or emergency skills. Forgive the omissions, but there are uplifting stories to be told about host of Southlanders who have stepped forward bravely during emergencies; truck driver Samuel Powell, Gerry Phillips of Gore, Riversdale contractor Nathan Clark; Alexandra’s Craig Hooper, Stewart Island fisherman Zane Smith, Wanaka’s John Hare, and DOC’s Jacinda Amey for starters. And if you can’t look around your own lives and identify a whole bunch of others you haven’t been paying attention.