We Can Be Heroes

Finally some good news though I find it hard to trust the reports. It just seems way too Hollywoode-sque to be real.

Heroic Americans Thwart Train Attack In Europe
A heavily armed man with ties to radical Islam who was known in three European countries as potentially dangerous escaped the radar when he boarded a high-speed train - but not the courage of three American passengers who took him down.

It didn’t help me believe that this was real versus advance publicity for the next big blockbuster, when the first accounts claimed that it was three Marines who foiled the terrorist. Marines? Of course! It’s Sands of Iwo Jima, Flying Leathernecks and Flags of Our Fathers rolled into one epic moment. Right?

And then as the day progressed, calmer, more complete news came out.

Still, CNN’s headline screams 2 members of U.S. military stop Islamist attacker on train in Belgium while the NY Times barks 2 American Service Members Foil Gunman in Train Attack.

Does it not make a compelling enough tale, does it not sell enough ad space that the three Americans, not two, were childhood chums on a big European adventure?

Three friends from boyhood grow up, go their own ways—college, air force, national guard—and end up foiling a terrorist massacre on a Paris-bound train.

How much ya wanna bet there’s already a script being peddled?

American Who Helped Disarm Train Shooter Recounts Dramatic Scene
As he was cocking it to shoot it, Alek just yells, `Spencer, go!' And Spencer runs down the aisle," Sadler said. "Spencer makes first contact, he tackles the guy, Alek wrestles the gun away from him, and the gunman pulls out a box cutter and slices Spencer a few times. And the three of us beat him until he was unconscious.”

"I'm just a college student, it's my last year in college," he said today. "I came to see my friends on my first trip in Europe and we stopped a terrorist, it's kind of crazy."

I think I love this kid.

There was a Brit in the action too. In the inevitable movie that’ll be made, he’ll be played by a rumbly-tumbly Bob Hoskins type. A dashing and oh-so-serious Channing Tatum will be Spencer and Giorgos Sabanis will be Skarlatos. The handsome Elijah Kelley will be Sadler.

So this really happened. Wow, just wow.

We Can Be Heroes—Bowie