The country is still reeling from the impact of a devil on Earth entering a crowded movie theater in an otherwise peaceful community shooting 70 people and leaving 12 dead. It’s a disgusting commentary to what evil lurks in our midst. In the wake of this vile attack, there are stories of heroism. There are stories of boyfriends giving their lives so their girlfriends would survive. Nobody should expect to go to a movie theater for a couple of hours to de-stress and face the barrel of a heinous criminal’s gun. But, historically, when life and death situations confront good people, men lay their lives on the line to protect or save women and children.
It was a tad over 100 years ago when the fabled “unsinkable” Titanic rammed into an iceberg leaving it catastrophically damaged and on it’s way to the bottom of the frigid Atlantic. When it became obvious the ship would not survive, it was time to get to the lifeboats. There weren’t enough for all aboard so, a very strict women-and-children-first policy was employed. It was a no-brainer. That’s the way things worked. When faced with danger, the men faced it while doing all they could to protect the women and children. All in all 1,347 men and only 103 women died that fateful day in 1912. There were no throngs of TV and radio reporters with satellite trucks and live internet feeds waiting to interview the survivors — just a world in shock and an understanding why so few men survived the sunken ship. The men did what was expected. They died so those younger and weaker could live. That sensibility was again reality in that theater in Aurora, Colorado — mostly. Three heroes died so their girlfriends could live. Jon Blunk, Alex Teves and Matt McQuinn were killed while protecting their girlfriends from bullets. Then there’s Jamie Rohrs.
Most of us have never and will never face the kind of life and death situation faced by everyone in that theater on July 20, 2012. It’s easy to speculate but impossible to accurately report how we would react facing a gun-wielding evildoer. It’s not dissimilar to the questions we all asked ourselves after the attacks of 9/11. What would we have done in the face of that kind of evil — and the fate the 3,000 killed faced that day? It’s easy to say we’d attack the bad guy and take him down. But, you really never know. But, being a father of four, and a husband, there is NO doubt I’d put my life on the line to protect my family. How that would manifest itself is what’s not known. I can, however, also report that I would NOT do what the aforementioned Jamie Rohrs decided to do. You can see the video here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YFZ7C5-h_m4#!).
Rohrs, at the theater with his girlfriend and two children, speaks of looking for his family members, being disoriented, then suddenly he’s away from danger and contemplating going back for them. Without him saying so, it becomes obvious he got the heck out of there — leaving his young girlfriend and very young children to fend for themselves. And, as he says he was on the verge of going back in to look for them, he speaks of how he reconsidered, saying “if you go back, you’re dead too and what if our kids live and then they’re orphans…” WHAT? He was, at that very moment, expecting his girlfriend was dead and in the off chance his kids survived, HE needed to stay alive so they wouldn’t be orphans. Wow. Just wow.
One hundred years ago, that kind of cowardice would be faced with massive outcry by Americans if not a public flogging. In 2012, he’s so unembarrassed by his shameful cowardice that he not only showed up on CNN to retell the story of how he left his family for dead, he also had the unmitigated gall to announce that he chose the hospital room after the attack to ask the girlfriend he fled from to save his hide to marry him. Call me old-fashioned but, hearing a story like his and his rationale for why he thinks he did the right thing at that moment makes me hearken for days gone by and makes me respect even more, those who put themselves in harm’s way to save others. By the way, she said, “yes.” Wow
Pags
24 Responses
Joe, I’ve often worried of late that the ‘men’ of our country are being turned into a bunch of ‘metro-sexual’ weeklings. There’s plenty of proof when I watch tv. Then I remember- wait a minute, that’s New York; or Washington; or LA. And I look around me in real life- in the ‘fly-over states’- and I feel better.
This Lady should really reconsider her acceptance of this guy’s proposal. He is a coward in the foulest sense. She can’t possibly be that insecure and desperate that with Gods help the right MAN will come along and love her and her children.
Your Commentsshe should marry the black dude but i think he’s taken
While his actions may not be admirable, there’s something to be said about survival instinct. His actions puts the actions of those men that sacrificed their lives for their loved ones in perspective as the heroic acts they are.
The survival instinct for men — the strongest of humans — should be to protect the women and children. Pags
Your Comments When I married my wife 60 hears ago, she told me that she knew that i would always be there to protect her and our future family from harm and that was important to her.
I am on the verge of having my Masters degree in counseling; in other words we are taught to look past the surface of situations like this and find reason. I will say; I cannot find reason for this…If a stranger is willing to risk his life for women and children (which is as it should be), shouldn’t the father and boyfriend have the protective instinct, above all else, to do the same? I would say he lacked that instinct severely and she lacked the instinct to know what is best for herself, and her children. As a future counselor, sadly enough, my mind is boggled!
Mr Pagliarulo, thank you for writing this article. You summa
rize what many people strongly feel. An utter disappointment and tremendous pitty for that woman who clearly has no common sense…whom should now stand by her children and thoroughly start thinking about their well being and what type of father figure they have “acquired” now..not “gained”. In the mist of crisis, the character and integrity of men should arise….I’m afraid this person had none. My heart goes out to the victims and everyone who witnessed such tragedy..we keep them, including this clearly lost family, in our prayers.
Cause we all know, that a man’s life is less valuable then a woman’s or a child’s.
Joe, maybe he had only heard the first half of they typical feminist description of men:
“good for nothing except bringing a paycheck, and being an occasional meat shield.”
You are worried about this man who saved his life. Presumably, you think the three men who died for their girlfriends are heroes. Will you be writing a follow-up article about those three girlfriends excoriating them for enthusiastically bouncing on fresh meet as their former lovers decay in the ground? I think not. Google “mangina” and “white knight, futile”
[...] Does making Rohrs the object of public disapprobation count as cruelty? Absolutely not? No one should wrong him. No one should mistreat him. No one should deprive him of anything to which he is entitled. Just so, it should be clear to him that in terms of how he should have behaved he widely missed the mark. There should be public discussions of his behavior on the airways. And blogs should write about his unacceptable behavior. Likewise, there should editorials written about his morally bankrupt behavior. Indeed, it is worth considering the question of when might a man be justified in abandoning his female romantic partner and their children, given that they are endanger. The answer has to be something like the following: It is absolutely out of the question that he could give his life to save theirs; indeed, it is manifestly and unequivocally clear that there is absolutely not a single gesture or movement that he could make that would even count towards saving their lives. For an example of the kind public disapprobation that I have in mind, see “There Were Real Heros in the Aura Theatre. This Guy Wasn’t One of Them” [...]
I find it extraodinarily sad that the men in the theater had 2 choices with thier family and/or friends: Either run from the danger, or cover their girlfriend / families with their bodies and give up their lives. While the latter is very honorable, and the former much less than, it’s too bad that the theater thought it just fine to ban anyone from having a weapon that could have opened a third option.
In the first report I read on this couple, the kid (boy) says that he had the youngest child at first and then basically dropped him, the girlfriend saw the child and pulled him to her, so she was shielding both kids. So he didn’t just bolt, but he dropped the kid then bolted.
I can not understand a person with such little honor.I have always placed myself between danger of the men on my team taking bullets for several of them,as well as stepping between my wife and daughters in dangerous situations without ever stopping to think about it.I have taken snake strikes for my wife and oldest daughter while hiking.
Most of the wounds I received in the line of duty were incurred while placing my body between the innocents we were tasked with rescuing or my team members to take the stabbing,slashing,chemicals,and projectiles aimed at those who could not defend themselves or were complete innocents.To do anything less never crossed my mind.
I am now retired as the most wounded surviving Officer in my former agency.
Your Comments Joe, I’m shocked you are shocked. This is 2012. This is not old America. As I think of people I know and who they are married to, I can’t think if any of them that would have instinctly tried to save their spouse/girlfriend. Not looking after the children does shock me. Women have created the equality as we are just as tough and independent. Though I do not agree with this guy, and I agree he’s a jerk, society trumps my thoughts. Look around you. We are already in the apocalypse. Life as we knew it no longer exist. Sadly, it is acceptable to not stand for te pledge, place God second and allow the minority to rule.
Sad.
Girlfriend looks like she’s thinking, why am I with THIS loser? I would be so unbelievably pissed. He LEFT her with the kids .. and INFANT?!?!? Hope she now realizes what a douche bag she is making babies with. He’s not man enough to even marry her! Jeeezus people always amaze me.
I’m not taking sides here so let’s be perfectly clear about that before rushing to judge me too. I think it’s important to use some rational interpretation of this unfortunate situation rather than rhetoric and rushing to judge another which, by the way, is so prevalent in today’s Internet-driven society.
Close your eyes for a moment, and picture yourself in a darkened theater. You went there for a carefree evening of entertainment. Suddenly, smoke fills the room, gunfire erupts, people start screaming, sounds of those around you, gasping for air as blood fills their bronchial cavity. Then, like others else still alive in the theater, you panic. Have any of you heard the zing of a bullet flying past your ear? Huh?
Not one person writing in this column or in other countless venues, putting their two cents worth of analytical hogwash, are able to put themselves in this young man shoes. Personally, I can only imagine the level of chaos and temporary insanity filling that Colorado theater that evening.
What I can imagine is this: I can see many people fleeing the theater as quickly as they can get out the door. Question it as you will, fear irehang led by different people in different ways. It’s what separates those who would bungee jump from those who would not; it distinguishes those who skydive from those who have a fear of flying. This poor man, whoever he is, went to the theater that evening to watch a movie. He did not cause the mayhem. He, like everyone else in the theater that evening, was a victim of the carnage.
Shame on you, Mr. Pags, for making this man’s horror that fateful evening even worse through the use of the term, cowardice. Do you, or anyone else, think this man needs to feel worse than he already does?
Isn’t it something when those who have editorial voice can take the life of oneinnocent bystander and, because they have nothing better to say, turn that life upside down. Mr. Pags, why not focus your attention on the person responsible and leave judging for the judge.
The reference to Titanic is idiotic cause the “women and children first” order on Titanic not only was idiotic in itself (separating families waste valuable time and resources during evacuation and fatherless children has a way lesser chance making it in the world)
It was also wrongly understood by the lifeboat handler at the one of the two sides of the ship. Instead of putting women and children first in the boat and men second, they sent out half-empty life-boats with no men in them, thus they not only gave children worse life-conditions by not allowing fathers same chance as mothers, they also made the total causality number way higher than otherwise.
More people died and you see this as a good thing? Imagine if the same idiots had run the 9-11 evacuation. Then 1000s more would have died while wasting valuable time and you would be making the claim that was the right thing to do.
If people wanted to be real heroes they should charge the gunman. He would not be able to shoot all of them, the gunfire would be less accurate, he would not be able to re-load and the action would save way more people than putting yourself over whoever was your girlfriend for the moment (as statistically most of these couples will not last regardless)
Wow.. you really made a good point by calling the very appropriate comparison, “idiotic.” What this guy did by running away and saving his ass was unmanly and cowardly. That was and is my point.
pags
We are all able to judge. Matter of fact, you just judged me. Are you under the impression a man or woman in a robe on a bench is better qualified to judge than we are simply because that’s the title? That guy is a coward. He’s the definition. Period. Now judge my reply if you wish.
Pags
I look around and observe every day. And, I disagree with you. Although the idiots are constantly highlighted.. their behavior is certainly not the norm. Pags
I agree.
Pags
It would be “meat.” And, you’re an idiot.
Pags