Profiles in Courage: She Made the Call

I’m not often shocked these days. The over-saturation of horrible news headlines desensitizes me to hearing terrible things. But the sheer volume of horrible things we read about makes them no less horrible.

Yesterday, I was shocked in a surprising way when I attended a coroner’s inquest. The courtroom gallery was chalked full of police officers and the jury was typical. Nothing about the proceeding itself seemed particularly remarkable. Until she took the stand.

The state’s first witness was a young girl in her late teens whose fearless testimony and presence took my breath away. She testified about calling 911 because her father was strangling and threatening to stab her mom with a knife in the next room, while the teenage girl and her six year old sister were in the home. The story doesn’t end there. When the police officer arrived on scene, the dad threw a knife at the officer baseball-style, and so the officer fatally shot him twice. No doubt the girl calling 911 had no idea that the police were going to shoot and kill her dad that day. She was just calling for help. But her phone call also saved her mom’s life. I cannot imagine the weight of the decision that girl must feel. The girl could be heard sobbing in the background of one police officer’s bodycam footage, apologizing to her mom, “I’m so sorry,” but also saying, “but I knew he was going to kill you.”

Losing a life to save one doesn’t add up as good math, because in a sum zero game no one wins. There are no good outcomes here. But there is one undeniably good thing: the courage and character of a young girl who made the call to save her mom’s life, even if it cost that girl the rest of her own life as she knew it.

That courageous girl called 911, and then showed up to court to testify about the worst day of her life at the hearing two years later, even though, despite a subpoena, her mom did not. (There was some confusion as to where the witness should sit when she took the witness stand, and unironically, when the girl finally took her seat she said, “it’s been a long journey to get here.” No doubt!) Her bravery is astounding. During the break I saw the girl in the hallway shaking hands with the police officer who shot her dad. She approached him. The type of leadership and courage that takes is unreal. And that’s why, this week, this young girl is our profile in courage.

No matter the outcome, she took the courageous step to save a life. And so can we. Young girl, thank you for your strength and courage, and may we abide by your example.

Being shocked by courage is a good thing. If you have a story that embodies courage, please send it my way. Until next time, live courageously!