I changed the order of the stories in this weeks Optimist column in the Washington Post because any of the other stories should have been in the headline and first in the column rather than the story lauding self-absorbtion and a meaningless world record. Start with these two.....
This man broke a hip while mowing his lawn. The EMTs who responded finished his yardwork.
Feb. 26, 2020 at 7:22 a.m. EST
An ambulance rushed to the scene, and three emergency responders from the West Thurston Regional Fire Authority took Storelee to a hospital. He had broken a hip.
The trio of firefighter EMTs spent the rest of the day racing to car accidents and other calamities. At about 5 p.m., as things calmed down, firefighter EMT Alexander Trautman looked at his two co-workers and asked whether they would be up for going back to Storelee’s house to finish his lawn.
“There was no hesitation from anybody,” said Trautman, who has worked for the West Thurston department, near Olympia, for about 10 years. “We talked to our lieutenant and captain, and they were 100 percent behind it.”
So he and fellow firefighter EMTs Miranda Panuska and Garrett Bromley headed back to the partially mowed lawn and spent about an hour mowing, sweeping and tidying up, Trautman said.
“We knew he’d be down for a while,” Trautman said. “We figured the least we could do was go back and help out.”
Storelee’s grandson Aiden Martin said his grandfather has lived alone since his grandmother passed away five years ago. He said the lawn is his grandfather’s “pride and joy of the house.”
Martin posted a photo of his grandfather on Twitter, as well as a photo of the firefighter EMTs, which was taken by neighbor Cheryl Jones. Martin wrote: “My granddad fell this morning while mowing the lawn and broke his hip. The EMT’s that took him to the hospital came back and finished his job for him.”
Trautman said he remembered Storelee from a call about a year ago when Storelee had fallen off a ladder.
“We were familiar with him,” Trautman said. “He’s a really, really nice guy, the kind of guy who would never ask for help in any way, shape or form.”
Trautman said he and his co-workers are encouraged to help people beyond rendering medical aid.
“We’ve done similar things before. We look at it like a family community. I’ve seen people with broken porches and replaced a couple of boards,” he said. “If we see someone in need, we can go help and buy them groceries, and the department will refund us our money.”
Martin said that, while in the hospital, his grandfather was somewhat confused because of the medication he was given, but that he was happy to learn his lawn had been mowed.
He added that his grandfather needed hip surgery after the fall and is doing physical therapy to help him start walking again.
Robert W. Scott, operations chief for the West Thurston Regional Fire Authority, said his department’s 33 staff and 20 volunteers “are empowered to feel part of the community.”
“They were compelled to go back and take care of the job he was doing,” Scott said about the firefighter lawn mowers. “They wanted to do the right thing.”
He added that two of the three seventh-graders who found Storelee after hearing him moaning in pain initially didn’t tell their parents about their good deed because they were afraid they would get in trouble. As it turns out, they were not where they were supposed to be.
Two of the boys — Colby Dunkin and Hayden Lewis — were to go straight to the Boys & Girls Club after school, but instead they decided to walk a third friend — Adam Dillon — home first, something they didn’t have their parents’ permission to do.
“Me and Colby were supposed to be going to the Boys & Girls Club, but we thought we would be a little sneaky and walk Adam home first,” said Hayden, 12.
As the boys walked by Storelee’s home, they heard him yelling “Help me,” so they walked inside his fence to check on him, Hayden said. At first Hayden hesitated to walk into Storelee’s yard.
“I decided I’m not going to run away,” Hayden said. “I’m going to help this old guy who is asking for help.”
Once Hayden saw Storelee on the ground, he realized he needed to get an ambulance, so he and Adam flagged down a car and asked the driver to call 911, he said.
Bridget Lewis, Hayden’s mother, said she didn’t find out about what her son had done until Monday, three days after it happened.
“Hayden is not in trouble because he helped save a man’s life,” Lewis said. “But we did have a talk about following rules.”
A 9-year-old bullied to the brink led an Australian rugby team to a roaring crowd
Feb. 22, 2020 at 4:45 p.m. EST
Quaden is an Aboriginal Australian with achondroplasia dwarfism — a rare bone-growth disorder. Constant ridicule from other children drove him to the brink, his mother explained in a now-viral Facebook video.
“Give me a knife,” Quaden wails in the video. “I want to kill myself. I just want to die right now.”
“This is the effect of bullying,” says his mother, Yarraka Bayles, as her sobbing child buries his face in his seat.
Quaden leads out the All Stars | NRL on Nine
His story caught the eye of California-based comedian Brad Williams, who grew up with the same condition. The GoFundMe campaign he started Wednesday to send Quaden to Disneyland exploded to nearly half a million dollars by Saturday afternoon and prompted much of the worldwide attention Quaden’s story has received.
The National Rugby League’s Indigenous All Stars team also took notice. “The boys are here, we got your back, we’re here to support you,” a member of the team said in a video ahead of the exhibition against the Maori All Stars on the Gold Coast.
Quaden’s turnaround was a relief to his mother. At a news conference Friday, she said he has gone “from the worst day of his life to the best day of his life,” according to the BBC.
“We are losing way too many people because of bullying, because of discrimination, because of racism,” she said. “There’s so many factors of bullying.
“On top of that, being an Aboriginal boy with a disability, people don’t understand that’s a double-edged sword,” she said. “There’s racism, and then there’s discrimination because of the disability.”
Quaden’s story resonated far and wide. Australian actor Hugh Jackman told him in a video, “Quaden, you are stronger than you know, and no matter what, you got a friend in me.”
The Maori All Stars won the game 30-16, but the focus remained on Quaden at the beginning.
The crowd was so loud that he wore a headset as he strode onto the field to the sounds of a didgeridoo. Quaden handed the referee the ball, stood tall with the team captains, and flashed a thumbs-up for the world.
| THE OPTIMIST |
| Stories that inspire. |
This man broke a hip while mowing his lawn. The EMTs who responded finished his yardwork.
The three firefighter EMTs went back to the partially mowed lawn and spent about an hour mowing, sweeping and tidying up.
|
A 42-year-old Zamboni driver filled in as an emergency NHL goalie. He got the win.
Dave Ayres said he had “the time of my life” in the Hurricanes’ win in Toronto.
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 A 9-year-old bullied to the brink led an Australian rugby team to a roaring crowd
Quaden Bayles, an Aboriginal Australian with a rare bone growth disorder, captured the world’s attention in a viral video detailing the bullying he has received.
|
She was unconscious in her sinking car after a seizure. That’s when two strangers in ‘go mode’ saved her.
In a dramatic rescue captured on video, bystanders managed to save a woman from drowning in a canal as she sat unconscious at the wheel of her quickly sinking car.
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 Why my black son needed a dog
Our family dog became a safe place for our son, who is also autistic.
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Watching ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ with 18,000 teenagers was one of the most profound theater experiences of my career
At Madison Square Garden, a free performance for middle and high school students revealed an incontestable truth: they were listening.
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Meet the friar who combined flour and faith to win the ‘Great American Baking Show’
The priest-in-training continues to adjust to life in the national spotlight.
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Don’t be afraid to let children read graphic novels. They’re real books.
A librarian makes the case: Kids’ connection to comics helps create lifelong readers.
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Antarctica is becoming easier to visit. Here’s how to get to the bottom of the world.
New ships are amping up the luxury and amenities; you can even drive by the continent.
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Meet the 62-year-old Marine veteran who planked for over 8 hours to break a Guinness world record
The record-breaking feat caps nearly a decade of planking for the former Marine and Drug Enforcement Administration officer, who trained for hours each day to raise awareness about mental health issues.
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