Lending a helping hand

By – LISA HENDRICKS
| Tue, August 21, 2012 - 12:01 AM

()

On Friday, July 20, 12 people lost their lives in what was referred to as a mass shooting at a Century movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado, United States, during a midnight screening of the Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises.

We were told that a gunman, dressed in tactical clothing, set off tear gas grenades and shot into the audience with multiple firearms, killing 12 and injuring 58.

Among those in the audience were two young girls who, we were told, were best friends; inseparable, one news item stated. On the NBC Today Show it was said they were so close, they could even finish each other’s sentences. On the night of the shooting one of the friends got hit in her neck and was bleeding. Her best friend tried to save her life, protecting her from the salvo of bullets by covering her with her body. She would not leave her, she stood by her until the end. She saved her life.

Nowadays, as young people, we all say we have best friends; even I do. I was really touched by this story of friendship and heroism and it led me to ponder: how many of us who say we have best friends would risk our lives for each other in a dangerous situation, like the Colorado shooting?

I have my own idea of what a best friend is. However, to help me to get other views, I searched the Internet and found some other definitions.

As expected, there were many. But the one most suitable to this situation was found on Yahoo.com: “A best friend is someone who you know will always be there for you in bad times and in good times, who knows how you will react in every situation and who knows what you want to say or what you are thinking just by looking at you.”

As young people with disabilities, we may not have to face an incident such as the Colorado shooting to show care for each other, we may not even have a best friend, but we should always try to lend a helping hand to each other in difficult times.

In closing, I leave you the words of the famous Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh: “The more I think it over, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.”