- Location
- NW Chicago subburbs, Illinois
I learned about the Carnegie Hero Fund today and thought it was a really neat idea. Then I wondered how many arborists were put in positions where they had to save someone's life, which is why I'm sharing it.
I learned about it when I was listening to a Radio Lab episode called 'The Good Show'.
"In this episode, a question that haunted Charles Darwin: if natural selection boils down to survival of the fittest, how do you explain why one creature might stick its neck out for another? The standard view of evolution is that living things are shaped by cold-hearted competition. And there is no doubt that today's plants and animals carry the genetic legacy of ancestors who fought fiercely to survive and reproduce. But in this hour, we wonder whether there might also be a logic behind sharing, niceness, kindness ... or even, self-sacrifice. Is altruism an aberration, or just an elaborate guise for sneaky self-interest? Do we really live in a selfish, dog-eat-dog world? Or has evolution carved out a hidden code that rewards genuine cooperation?"
In the episode they interview a few people, who won the Carnegie Hero award, who risked their lives to save a complete stranger. One person pulled three people from a flame-engulfed car, another jumped onto NY city train tracks to save a guy that was having a seizure when a train was coming, and another was a woman who saved another woman who was being attacked by a Jersey bull. Neat stories. The episode is an hour long. It's worth downloading the podcast and listening.
Radio Lab Link: http://www.radiolab.org/2010/dec/14/
Carnegie Hero Link: http://www.carnegiehero.org/index.php
"The two-fold mission of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission: To recognize persons who perform acts of heroism in civilian life in the United States and Canada, and to provide financial assistance for those disabled and the dependants of those killed helping others.
We live in a heroic age, Andrew Carnegie wrote in the opening lines of the Commission's founding Deed of Trust in 1904. Not seldom are we thrilled by deeds of heroism where men or women are injured or lose their lives in attempting to preserve or rescue their fellows.
Carnegie's "hero fund," administered by a 21-member commission in Pittsburgh, was charged with honoring whom he called the "heroes of civilization," whose lifesaving actions put them in stark contrast to the "heroes of barbarism, (who) maimed or killed" their fellow man. That the mission of the Hero Fund as set forth by Carnegie is unchanged over more than a century, despite massive upheaval in the social and world order, is testament both to his foresight and to essentially unchanging human nature.
The Commission's working definition of a hero as well as its requirements for awarding remain largely those that were approved by the founder. The candidate for an award must be a civilian who voluntarily risks his or her life to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the life of another person. The rescuer must have no full measure of responsibility for the safety of the victim. There must be conclusive evidence to support the act's occurrence, and the act must be called to the attention of the Commission within two years.
Those who are selected for recognition by the Commission are awarded the CARNEGIE MEDAL, and they, or their survivors, become eligible for financial considerations, including one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance. To date, more than 9,000 medals have been awarded, the recipients selected from more than 80,000 nominees. About 20 percent of the medals are awarded posthumously. Awardees are announced four times a year, following meetings of the Commission.
As the Commission is a private operating foundation recognized as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code, donations are deductible as charitable contributions by the donor to the extent permitted by law."
I learned about it when I was listening to a Radio Lab episode called 'The Good Show'.
"In this episode, a question that haunted Charles Darwin: if natural selection boils down to survival of the fittest, how do you explain why one creature might stick its neck out for another? The standard view of evolution is that living things are shaped by cold-hearted competition. And there is no doubt that today's plants and animals carry the genetic legacy of ancestors who fought fiercely to survive and reproduce. But in this hour, we wonder whether there might also be a logic behind sharing, niceness, kindness ... or even, self-sacrifice. Is altruism an aberration, or just an elaborate guise for sneaky self-interest? Do we really live in a selfish, dog-eat-dog world? Or has evolution carved out a hidden code that rewards genuine cooperation?"
In the episode they interview a few people, who won the Carnegie Hero award, who risked their lives to save a complete stranger. One person pulled three people from a flame-engulfed car, another jumped onto NY city train tracks to save a guy that was having a seizure when a train was coming, and another was a woman who saved another woman who was being attacked by a Jersey bull. Neat stories. The episode is an hour long. It's worth downloading the podcast and listening.
Radio Lab Link: http://www.radiolab.org/2010/dec/14/
Carnegie Hero Link: http://www.carnegiehero.org/index.php
"The two-fold mission of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission: To recognize persons who perform acts of heroism in civilian life in the United States and Canada, and to provide financial assistance for those disabled and the dependants of those killed helping others.
We live in a heroic age, Andrew Carnegie wrote in the opening lines of the Commission's founding Deed of Trust in 1904. Not seldom are we thrilled by deeds of heroism where men or women are injured or lose their lives in attempting to preserve or rescue their fellows.
Carnegie's "hero fund," administered by a 21-member commission in Pittsburgh, was charged with honoring whom he called the "heroes of civilization," whose lifesaving actions put them in stark contrast to the "heroes of barbarism, (who) maimed or killed" their fellow man. That the mission of the Hero Fund as set forth by Carnegie is unchanged over more than a century, despite massive upheaval in the social and world order, is testament both to his foresight and to essentially unchanging human nature.
The Commission's working definition of a hero as well as its requirements for awarding remain largely those that were approved by the founder. The candidate for an award must be a civilian who voluntarily risks his or her life to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the life of another person. The rescuer must have no full measure of responsibility for the safety of the victim. There must be conclusive evidence to support the act's occurrence, and the act must be called to the attention of the Commission within two years.
Those who are selected for recognition by the Commission are awarded the CARNEGIE MEDAL, and they, or their survivors, become eligible for financial considerations, including one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance. To date, more than 9,000 medals have been awarded, the recipients selected from more than 80,000 nominees. About 20 percent of the medals are awarded posthumously. Awardees are announced four times a year, following meetings of the Commission.
As the Commission is a private operating foundation recognized as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code, donations are deductible as charitable contributions by the donor to the extent permitted by law."
