We are rich and blessed to have such young men

I saw this article (The Victims: Real movie heroes saved their sweethearts during Colo. ambush by Caitlin Gibbons) the other day but decided not to post about it. Too great a tragedy.

Three young men are being hailed as heroes for their old-fashioned chivalry and courage under fire in saving the lives of their girlfriends.

While using their bodies as shields, Matt McQuinn, 27, Jonathan Blunk, 26, and Alex Teves, 24, were killed in the worst mass shooting in US history.

Then my son, just returned from Philmont, sent me the following article, Boy Scouts use talents to aid scout leader at Philmont by Aric Mitchell, and I reconsidered.

Ric Cooper, a resident of Northwest Arkansas, felt the clutching at his chest too late to turn back on Trek 4 of the Philmont Boy Scout Camp near Cimarron, N.M.

All he could get out was the word “Jim,” and he was tumbling backwards.

“Jim,” because the second chaperone on this journey was Dr. Jim Hattabaugh, principal at Trinity Junior High School in Fort Smith and second of a required two adult chaperones on the trip.

Cooper didn’t have time to call out the names of the nine boys with him: Brian Boatright, Eric Boltuc, Joseph Boltuc, Eli Hattabaugh, Ian Hattabaugh, Cameron Mask, Matthew Schultz, Alex Sharum, and Joseph Smith.

He didn’t need it. Instantly, the members of Boy Scout Troop 3 sprung to action and did “exactly what needed to be done to save the man’s life,” Hattabaugh said.

Jim rushed to Cooper, who’d taken “a five-foot drop,” according to 17-year old Subiaco Academy student Joseph Boltuc, and began chest compressions.

Then, Jim’s son Eli, a 17-year old student of Fort Smith Southside High School, stepped in and “gave two breaths” followed by another set of 30 chest compressions. Halfway through, “he started gasping for air and came back,” Eli said.

Meanwhile, Mask, Smith, and Sharum, set up a tarp using “ropes, hiking sticks, stuff like that,” said Smith, a 15-year old student of Fort Smith Northside High School. Their goal: to keep Cooper safe from the raging July sun.

“We (Mask, Sharum, Smith) actually stuck together most of the time. The wind coming through the trees kept sounding like there were cars coming down the roads, so me and Cameron went down to see if there actually was,” said Smith.

Boatright, Eric, Ian, and Schultz, lit out for the Cyphers Mine base camp to report the emergency.

The four boys made the run after three hours on the trail carrying 45-pound backpacks on an uphill journey of 2,000 feet, Jim Hattabaugh added.

They had four miles in front of them starting from an altitude of 11,000 feet.

As a scout master, I am proud of these young men. But there is something more.

News is news but it isn't always the type of news we need or want.

These articles are a testament to what is too often overlooked. We get caught up in the minutiae of things to worry about. We anticipate decline. We bemoan the loss of social cohesion and spiral of negativity. There is plenty of misery and tragedy upon which we can fixate.

It is too easy to overlook that there are many, many young men and growing boys out there eager and able to do the right thing, in a split second, as best they can and no matter the cost. We should bring attention to them and celebrate them. That is news worth reading. We are rich and blessed to have such young men.

Jonathan Blunk, 26
Matt McQuinn, 27
Alex Teves, 24
Brian Boatright
Eric Boltuc, 14
Joseph Boltuc, 17
Eli Hattabaugh, 17
Ian Hattabaugh, 14
Cameron Mask, 17
Matthew Schultz, 16
Alex Sharum, 15
Joseph Smith, 15