We are accustomed to paying tribute to military heroes. At times of thanksgiving we are reminded of the sacrifices that have been made that we may be kept free. We also give thanks to those heroes who fall in the line of duty in law enforcement and the fire service. They are expected to risk their lives for us, and they do. Who can forget the men who rushed into the burning World Trade Center with hoses and axes, never to return?From time to time we read about an individual who has not been trained to confront enemies or mortal situations, someone who reacts the opposite way that most people would and gives himself up to save the lives of others. There were several passengers on the sinking Titanic, for instance, that helped lift women and children into the lifeboats and went down with the ship having saved uncounted lives. Two of those men were named Archibald, living up to their given name which means genuine and bold.

On April 16th, 2007 a student at Virginia Polytechnic began murdering students and professors in a shooting spree in one of the classroom buildings. Before he was finished and had committed suicide, the gunman had fatally shot thirty two and wounded others. Living in Virginia at the time, I knew a number of people who were personally affected by the event-either a student there at the time or someone who knew a victim or a student who barely escaped.

As the stories of the tragedy unfolded, we heard of a heroic professor who looked out the door of his classroom, saw the gunman and shouted for his students to escape out the windows. As they fled the scene, the seventy seven year old Professor of Engineering Science, Dr. Liviu Librescu, barred the door with his own strength and was shot and killed. All but one of his students escaped unscathed.

What makes Dr. Librescu’s self-sacrifice so poignant is his survival of the holocaust during WWII. As a ten year old Jewish boy in Romania, he saw his male relatives taken away and he and his mother incarcerated together. Under the post-war regime he stood up to the Communist Party and eventually immigrated to Israel under special request of the Israeli Prime Minister. His brilliance as an engineer brought international accolades and eventually a teaching position at Virginia Tech.

When the life and death situation arose at the University, he did not hesitate, but threw himself in harm’s way, saving the lives of his students. He had been preserved by God from the Nazi terrors of his youth and the oppressions of his young adulthood for just such a time as this. No doubt those students will be offering thanks to God for the rest of their lives for the character and manhood shown by Liviu Librescu who gave his life that others may live. We have much to thank God for in our country and Dr. Librescu reminds us that there always seems to be those special individuals who think of others before themselves.

Bill Potter