The Anonymous Hero
The Israeli solder heard the sound of shots coming from a lonely spot in Hebron and rushed to investigate what had happened. There he saw another solider lying in a pool of blood, the victim of a terrorist attack. He quickly administered first aid, summoned help and accompanied the ambulance to the emergency room of the hospital. The doctors told him that the patient would live only because of the initial medical attention he had provided.
When the parents of the wounded man arrived at the hospital and heard the story of his rescue they wanted to thank his rescuer. But he was nowhere to be found and no one knew his identity. After a fruitless search for this anonymous savior they returned to their grocery story in Kiryat Malachi where they hung a big sign relating the story of their son’s miraculous rescue and asking for help in locating the hero.
One day a year later a woman from Beersheba entered their shop, read the sign and cried out “That’s my son!” A quick telephone call to her son was followed by a heartwarming meeting of the two families. At one point the hero’s mother called aside the mother of the soldier he had saved and said to her:
“You don’t remember me but we met twenty years ago when I entered your shop and I struck up a nice conversation with you and your husband. In the course of our talk I mentioned that I was suffering from a difficult pregnancy and was planning an abortion. Both of you persuaded me to drop this idea, pointing out what a blessing children are. You succeeded in convincing me, and the child to whom I gave birth was the one who saved your son!”
