In a world that all too often heaps accolades on those who claw and manipulate their way to the top with cruelty and hate, it feels so good to chase a story about someone being praised for being a decent human being.
Earlier this week, our Rusty Blazenhoff shared the story of Mamoudou Gassama: a 22-year old Malian living in Paris, France, who climbed four floors, on the outside of an apartment building, to save a young child from falling. Gassama was in France as an undocumented immigrant – a fact that quickly changed after saving the child’s life. He was called to meet with the French President who immediately fast-tracked his application for citizenship. Amidst all the hubbub of his good deed, Gassama mentioned two things: That he loves children and that he wants to be a firefighter. The first, because of his selfless deed, is pretty obvious. The second is being taken care of by the people of the city he lives in.
From The Guardian:
After Gassama’s immigration papers were fast-tracked on Tuesday morning, he visited a fire station to sign up for a 10-month internship with the fire and rescue services, which is expected to pay around €600 (£525) a month. He will receive French citizenship within around three months.
Is France perfect? No. Are they seizing on the opportunity for some great optics in light of their less-than-stellar treatment of migrants who come to their nation looking for a better life? Maybe. In any case, I don’t care.
It could be the new meds that I’m on making me feel more open to emotions that I haven’t had to handle in decades, or that I’m getting older and can finally appreciate beauty when I see it. When I read about what Gassama had done, breaking cover as an undocumented immigrant to save a life, it tugged at my coat, just a little. Seeing this in The Guardian today, however, moved me to tears. Apparently I’m a huge suck, now.
More of this sort of thing, please. The world is far too dark. More light is needed to drive it back.
Image: © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5, Link