MacGyver thought processes !!
April 7, 2002 7:15 AM   Subscribe

MacGyver thought processes !! That's a bit over the top. Sure is a different Sept 11 hero though.(Wash Post via Fark)
posted by johnny7 (5 comments total)
 
Is it? Every time I hear this story, I think of the other elevators, and who was in them. Was there anyone sitting there hopelessly in the dark, waiting for rescue? Anyone who opened their doors to find drywall, and all they had was a cup of coffee, maybe their keys? Anyone who tried, but didn't make it? Who collapsed in frustration when they found the second layer of drywall?

That's the thing about the MacGyver character, of course -- doing with what you've got. Doesn't paint him a superhero. They acted on instinct, with determination, and made of that a small miracle.
posted by dhartung at 8:32 AM on April 7, 2002


Dhartung: "Every time I hear this story, I think of the other elevators, and who was in them."

You one of those glass is half empty kinda guys? Last I heard, somewhere between three thousand and five thousand people died among a possible twenty thousand. That means the glass is more than three quarters full.

Yes, some of those who died were in elevators when the towers fell. However, more survived than died. Yes it sucks when even one person dies needlessly, but with the help of a squeegee of all things, six men lived. If people want to paint Jan Demczur a hero, I say let them. I think all the survivors are heroes.
posted by ZachsMind at 10:25 AM on April 7, 2002


Did you get to see the rod?
posted by astrogirl at 11:04 AM on April 7, 2002


For what it's worth, Dan H., the humble window washer said pretty much exactly what you did when I saw him interviewed on TV. He doesn't consider himself a hero; he wanted to recognize all the other heros that didn't make it out.
posted by girlhacker at 2:06 PM on April 7, 2002


Zach: I am fully aware of how many people survived, and that 99% of those below the impacts escaped is beyond miraculous.

Still, I cannot but think of those who did not have escape even as an option.

And I prefer to think in terms of individuals rather than statistics.

And call it semantics if you will, but survivors and heroes are two separate, distinct, and worthy things. I don't call someone who would have died along with others, who really took no additional risk, a hero; it just doesn't make sense to me, like grade inflation.

The firemen who went into that building, the one with an enormous, burning hole in it -- those men were heroes.
posted by dhartung at 4:37 PM on April 7, 2002


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