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The_Jazz · 07-28-2008, 06:53 AM

As some of you know, I grew up in Knoxville, TN. As probably none of you know, I attended the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church as an early teen. My parents still have many friends there. A friend of mine who lived on my street and her mother (who still lives on the street) were apparently at the play and witnessed the shooting according to my brother, who's close friends with her brother still.

Despite my inability to clearly process how something like this could have happened in the Sequoia Woods neighborhood (read: old money), what I keep coming back to is how the incident ended. Apparently the shooter paused to reload and two guys tackled him. One of those men is John Bohstedt and is someone I've known for more than 25 years.

John is an English History professor at the University of Tennessee. He has a daughter and son who are the same ages as my brother and I. I have fond memories of playing board games at their house and traveling to the South Carolina beach with them. He was one of the first adults to talk to me like I was an adult and to take my opinions seriously.

That said, I never once envisioned him the kind of hero that tackles a gunman. From what I've pieced together from news accounts and third-hand stories, it was a chaotic scene, and John was up at the front of the church as a part of the cast for the play that was going on. When the shooting started, he worked his way close to the gunman and then tackled him when there was a pause in the shooting. John is probably in his mid-60's to early 70's. He is the quintessential college professor and looks the part.

I know lots of heroes. This is the first Hero I've ever had the good fortune to know. Of all the people I've known over the years, he was never on my list as being capable of this kind of act.

So I pose to you, who do you know that did something so heroic that you're incapable of explaining the action with what you know of the person? There are obviously paid heroes in our midst - firefighters, police, paramedics - who routinely risk their lives for the greater good, but I'm talking about run of the mill citizens. Did you see it coming (if such a thing is possible)? How does it change your perception of the individual?

07-28-2008, 06:53 AM	#1 (permalink)
The_Jazz Asshole Administrator Location: Chicago	Predetermining the hero As some of you know, I grew up in Knoxville, TN. As probably none of you know, I attended the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church as an early teen. My parents still have many friends there. A friend of mine who lived on my street and her mother (who still lives on the street) were apparently at the play and witnessed the shooting according to my brother, who's close friends with her brother still. Despite my inability to clearly process how something like this could have happened in the Sequoia Woods neighborhood (read: old money), what I keep coming back to is how the incident ended. Apparently the shooter paused to reload and two guys tackled him. One of those men is John Bohstedt and is someone I've known for more than 25 years. John is an English History professor at the University of Tennessee. He has a daughter and son who are the same ages as my brother and I. I have fond memories of playing board games at their house and traveling to the South Carolina beach with them. He was one of the first adults to talk to me like I was an adult and to take my opinions seriously. That said, I never once envisioned him the kind of hero that tackles a gunman. From what I've pieced together from news accounts and third-hand stories, it was a chaotic scene, and John was up at the front of the church as a part of the cast for the play that was going on. When the shooting started, he worked his way close to the gunman and then tackled him when there was a pause in the shooting. John is probably in his mid-60's to early 70's. He is the quintessential college professor and looks the part. I know lots of heroes. This is the first Hero I've ever had the good fortune to know. Of all the people I've known over the years, he was never on my list as being capable of this kind of act. So I pose to you, who do you know that did something so heroic that you're incapable of explaining the action with what you know of the person? There are obviously paid heroes in our midst - firefighters, police, paramedics - who routinely risk their lives for the greater good, but I'm talking about run of the mill citizens. Did you see it coming (if such a thing is possible)? How does it change your perception of the individual? __________________ "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin "There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush "We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo