Skip to footer

Everyday heroes: 11 tales of American heroes

10. Wesley Autrey, the 'subway hero'

(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Wesley Autrey in January 2008 in New York. The subway hero jumped onto the tracks to save a teenager from an oncoming train on Jan. 2, 2007.

Film student Cameron Hollopeter had a seizure on a New York subway platform on Jan. 2, 2007, falling onto the tracks as a train sped toward the station.

Assessing the situation in seconds, construction worker Wesley Autrey leaped to help Mr. Hollopter, press himself and Hollopter into the 21-inch space between the bottom of the train and the ditch between the rails.

The train passed harmlessly over them with less than an inch to spare as onlookers – including Mr. Autrey's 4- and 6-year-old daughters – watched. Autrey kept Hollopter calm for 20 minutes as officials worked to free them.

Then he went to work.

At a City Hall ceremony honoring Autrey, who had been dubbed the "subway hero," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said "Wesley's astonishing bravery – saving a life in the face on an oncoming subway car – is an inspiration not just to New Yorkers, but the entire world. His courageous rescue of a complete stranger is a reminder of how we are surrounded by everyday heroes in New York City."

President Bush heralded Autrey's bravery in his 2007 State of the Union address.

Autrey said he was just in the right place at the right time, and offered this advice: “All New Yorkers! If you see somebody in distress, go for it!

10 of 11
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.