An Act of Heroism

In every horrific event, we always hear of courageous acts by individuals which prevent even more deaths from occurring. At Virginia Tech on Monday, the actions of Professor Liviu Librescu, a 76 year-old Holocaust survivor who gave his life allowing several of his students to escape, stands out.

Mark Steyn and James Bowman wonder why this kind of heroic action is so rare. I don't know whether any of the others at Virginia Tech missed specific opportunities to thwart the maniacal killer, but these writers do raise a good question as to whether our western societies are ingraining passivity into their citizens, rather than encouraging heroic virtue like that of Professor Librescu and the passengers of United Flight 93.