Bravery: A Brave New World

Bravery is defined as; showing of courageous conduct, or valor (Dictionary.com). Bravery is being able to run into a burning building knowing it could, at any time, collapse, to save others. It is being able to go into a war zone, taking enemy fire from all directions and not to be afraid. Bravery is being able to take down an armed robber, take a bullet to the chest, and still kill the man to make others safe. To say someone is brave is one thing, but to do these duties is another. Everyday police officers, firefighters, and our nation’s soldiers show this trait to the world just to do their job. They do it because it is right not because they are going to become a millionaire from it. Although bravery is something everyone wants, it cannot …show more content…
Lieutenant Joe Torrillo of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) was working the morning of September 11th 2001. He was heading to a conference on fire safety when he saw the first plane hit the north tower. Torrillo who used to work at the firehouse just a few feet from the towers went straight to his old firehouse. As he was driving there, he could see that roughly 9 floors were engulfed in flames. After he got to his old house, he grabbed some old fire gear, and he and the other firefighters went to ground zero. Not long after the second plane hit Torrillo had a feeling that the towers were going to collapse. He thought it would take a few hours though. One hour later the first tower collapsed and Lt. Torrillo was one of the many firefighters trapped in rubble. Twenty minutes later he was rescued alive and put on a boat to get him to the hospital. He remembers hearing them say he was not going to live if they did not get him to the hospital. At this point there was another big boom and the North Tower began to collapse. Torrillo gathered up enough energy to crawl into the engine room of the boat where he was once again buried in rubble. He laid there thinking he was never going to see his family again. Then he heard voices. He screamed for help, and after forty minutes of sitting there, he was rescued once again by fellow New York firefighters. The next thing he remembers, he woke up in a trauma room in Jersey City Hospital. He would then have a long road of recovering from major head injuries and several broken bones. Torrillo could have easily continued on to his safety conference he was scheduled to be at that day, but no Lt. Torrillo was being brave he went to ground zero. Lt. Joe Torrillo was one of the lucky ones. Three hundred and forty three firefighters gave their lives that day to save thousands. (Theblaze 1) Firefighters do not get paid the big bucks to risk their lives