Today is April 1 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “How often do you demonstrate courage – remaining graceful under pressure?”
J.D. Thompson demonstrated courage when his co-worker’s life depended on it.
This photo shows two power linemen, Randall Champion and J. D. Thompson, at the top of a utility pole.
They had been performing routine maintenance when Champion brushed one of the high voltage lines at the very top.
These are the lines that can be heard “singing” with electricity. Over 4000 volts entered Champion’s body and instantly stopped his heart (an electric chair uses about 2000 volts).
His safety harness prevented a fall, and Thompson, who had been ascending below him, quickly reached him and performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He was unable to perform CPR given the circumstances, but continued breathing into Champion’s lungs until he felt a slight pulse, then unbuckled his harness and descended with him on his shoulder.
Thompson and another worker administered CPR on the ground, and Champion was moderately revived by the time paramedics arrived, eventually making a full recovery.
The apprentice lineman saved a life. Champion lived another 35 years, surviving another electrical shock along the way, before dying of heart failure in 2002.
Yet when you ask Thompson about the split second he says he was just doing his job, following his training and that it was no big deal.
Rocco Morabito took the photograph, entitled “The Kiss of Life,” that would eventually win the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography. Morabito served in World War II in the Army Air Forces as a ball-turret gunner on a B-17. After the war, he returned to the Jacksonville Journal and started his photography career shooting sporting events for the paper.
He worked for the Journal for 42 years, 33 of them as a photographer, until retiring in 1982.
American novelist Ernest Miller Hemingway noted “Courage is grace under pressure.” Thompson demonstrated grace under pressure and his courage saved Champion’s life.
Much like Thompson professional baseball player Jim Rice demonstrated grace under pressure during a Red Sox baseball game on August 8, 1982 when a line drive struck 4 year-old Jonathan Keane in the side of the head.
Recognizing that the boy needed immediate medical attention, Red Sox first basemen Rice went into the stands, picked up the boy and rushed him to the dugout where he received immediate medical attention.
Within just a few minutes Jonathan was rushed to the hospital where doctors credited Rice with saving the boy’s life.
Keane is alive and well and has no recollection of how Rice stayed cool under pressure to save his life.
As you go about your day consider asking yourself how often do you demonstrate courage?