Thursday, January 04, 2007

letter to the new york times:

Dear Sirs,

I read your article yesterday: 'Man Is Rescued by Stranger on Subway Tracks'.
What a wholly inadequate headline!

Yes, he made it all the way to the editorial the following day, but you still seemed to miss the point.

The word 'Hero' is so overused by the present Bush administration when it comes to the military and its role in Iraq, that not a week seems to go by that it isn't trotted out like some crude geometry conditional statement:

"you serve in the military, therefore you are a hero".

This ordinary man, on the other hand, did something very heroic, not for his country, but instead a completely selfless act for another ordinary man, someone he didn't know. why not give him some special recognition; how about a medal for Mr. Wesley Autrey!

Come on New York Times. Get the headline right.

Stranger Rescued by Hero on Subway Tracks.

mark solomon
washington, d.c.

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