Your Heroic Heart #9: Fire
Heroes are ordinary people who do extraordinary things. Anonymous Andrew Carnegie was thirteen when his family moved from Scotland. After they settled in Allegheny City, Pittsburgh, he earned $1.50 a week, working twelve to sixteen hours a day in a cotton factory. About thirteen years later, when drafted into the U.S. Army during the Civil War, the young man paid $900 to have someone serve in his place. [A common custom back then.] $900 in 1861 would be $32,250 in 2024. While working his way from messenger to secretary to telegraph operator, Carnegie built contacts with wealthy businessmen, like B. F. Jones, founder of the steel mill where I eventually worked. Another was Colonel James Anderson who allowed Carnegie access to his private library. Inspired by the Colonel’s kindness, Carnegie vowed to build as many libraries as possible, to give poor youth chances to develop their minds. Between 1883 and 1929, over 2,500 were built. At one point, Carnegie said, “It is now thirteen years since I ceased to accumulate wealth and began to distribute it. I could never have succeeded in either had I stopped with having enough to retire upon, but nothing to retire to.” One activity he retired to was the creation and endowment of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. It exists to honor and support heroes and their dependents, including, Harry Amster of Clarkdale, Arizona. The meat dealer was 23 on April 27, 1915 when he tried to rescue toddlers from a fiery, wood frame house. In Sylvania, Georgia, Quillie Addison [a 36-year-old janitor], saved William Z. Kemp from a home so engulfed in flame, no one else would enter. When a 3-inch pipe carrying natural gas erupted, Matilda Aloisio offered her hand and foot to pull Henry Green from the pit of ten-foot high flames. Nominate a Hero. COMMENT. Myths tell of gods creating starry constellations for heroes The word comes demi [half, unfinished, almost]-god and to watch over, to protect. Imagine a world where everyone goes to bed a hero. A “Random Act of Kindness” will do, as in this post’s video [below]. What a world! Giving Tuesday The goal is heroic, whether to make someone smile, help a neighbor or stranger, show up for an issue or people we care about, or give something to those in need. Every generous act counts. Tuesday, December 3. Succeed and Soar! Sandra Gould Ford Presenting arts experiences to encourage, refresh, enrich creative thinking and inspire. Krispy Kreme’s Butterfly Effect Click Here to View [5 minutes] When Chris Rosati was diagnosed with ALS, he sought to make other lives better. Through November 7, Save 30% on Photo Books. Discount Code: PBGIFTS30 Few remain who experienced an old-time steel mill’s awesome, harrowing and magical world. As a young mother, I worked at Jones and Laughlin Steel’s Pittsburgh Works during its heyday when over 10,000 people struggled and snoozed, played pranks and died in that fire and brimstone world. I saw the last steel poured inside those bleak walls. Steel Genesis Memories of Metal and Metal shares some of my experiences. The books are 8×10, 50 pages. Two versions are available.: HIGH-QUALITY HARD COVER. Printed on Premium Lustre Paper. Normally $125. Through Nov 7, $87.50. See book. SOFT COVER. Flexible and sturdy, high-gloss cover printed on quality paper. Normally$69. Through Nov 7, $48. See book. Shop All Radiant Tree Books Thanks !
Your Heroic Heart #1 – Debut
Updated March 30, 2024 The “Heroic Hearts” series is inspired by Succeed and Soar’s August 21, 2021 post. There, Eleanor Roosevelt said, “We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time.” Heroes are the ones who inspire us to be better, to do better, to live better. – Anonymous In 1904, Andrew Carnegie created a Deed of Trust that began,We live in a heroic age. Not seldom are we thrilled by deeds of heroism where men or women are injured or lose their lives in attempting to preserve or rescue their fellows; such the heroes of civilization. … I have long felt that the heroes and those dependent upon them should be freed from pecuniary cares resulting from their heroism, and, as a fund for this purpose, I have transferred to the Commission five million dollars of First Collateral Five Per Cent. Bonds of the United States Steel Corporation. One hundred twenty years later — with a cumulative inflation of over 3,000 percent — Carnegie would have launched the fund with $173,267,977.43. The first honoree was Louis A. Baumann, Jr. who was 17 when Charles Stevick called for help while drowning in an abandoned farm’s deep ravine. The record reads, Baumann immediately dived into the pond, but when he reached Charles, Charles grabbed his leg. Baumann broke free and returned to the bank to regain his breath. He swam back out and dived for Charles, then took him to the surface, but Charles again grabbed Baumann, and both submerged. Again Baumann broke free and returned to the bank. A third time he swam out to Charles, that time managing to get Charles close enough to the bank for the other boys, who formed a chain, to drag both from the water. All survived. On August 9, 2007, Connecticut State Trooper Nicholas P. Leary rescued a woman from a burning building in Danielson, Massachusetts, without either the training or equipment. After crawling into the woman’s burning bedroom, she was rescued as flames breached the apartment’s walls. Leary donated the financial grant that accompanied the Carnegie Medal to The Jimmy Fund of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brookline, Massachusetts. ‘Hero’ comes from ancient words meaning demi [half, unfinished, almost]-god and to watch over, to protect. This definition means we can all be heroes, often. Imagine a world where everyone performed such a deed daily. Not much is required. A Random Act of Kindness as in the video below will do. What a life! How will you become a hero each day? Succeed and Soar! Sandra Gould Ford Presenting arts experiences to encourage, refresh, enrich creative thinking and inspire. COMMENT. A Random Acts of Kindness Click Here to View [90 seconds] In this ABC News “America Strong” with David Muir that aired February 20, 2024, see how Dollar Store pajamas turned a school bus driver into a hero. This Month, Shop Inspiring Succeed & Soar Posters Sizes from 8”x6.5” to the popular 30” x 23.5” Four Shape Options: Natural, Vertical, Horizontal and Square Printed on acid-free paper with archival inks Includes 1” white border to allow for future framing and mounting View All Posters Thanks for shopping!