We have had some dangerous weather conditions all across the country. Now that I live in a place where this is a thing, I am gaining a renewed respect for the people who live in it for months on end. So, stories of people braving the elements to help others are coming to the fore, and two captured my attention as worthy of the Feel-Good Friday treatment.

The first is heart-wrenching, because four people died. But thanks to the quick thinking of a young woman, a baby was saved.

Majiah Washington noticed a flash outside her home this week in Portland, where a dangerous storm had coated the city with ice. Opening her blinds, she saw a red SUV with a downed power line on it and a couple who had been putting their baby in the car.

The woman screamed to her boyfriend to get the baby to safety, and he grabbed the child and began to scramble up the driveway on concrete so slick it was almost impossible to walk. But before he made it halfway, he slid backward and his foot touched the live wire — “a little fire, then smoke,” Washington said.

The mother, six months pregnant, tried to reach the baby, but she too slipped and was electrocuted. So was her 15-year-old brother, when he came out to help.

This must have been a horrific scene to witness, let alone dive into. But Washington saw movement from the baby and didn't think twice. She was on the phone with emergency dispatch when she went to retrieve the 9-month-old.

“I was concerned about the baby,” said Washington, who recognized the woman as her neighbor’s daughter. “Nobody was with the baby.”

Portland Fire and Rescue spokesman Rick Graves praised Washington for her heroism but confessed he didn’t understand how she and the baby weren’t also electrocuted. The baby was examined at a hospital and is fine, authorities have said.

“We do have fortunately with us a toddler that is going to be able to thrive and do what they possibly can as they move forward,” Graves said. “And they are here, in part, because of the heroic acts of a member of our community.”

The second is from Idaho, where salt-of-the-earth people are apparently a state requirement. A young man named Tom dived into icy waters to rescue a family and their dog after they flipped their vehicle into a canal.

A couple of weeks ago, a car accidentally drove into a canal while doing a U-turn and flipped over in the water. Tom heard the commotion and ran out of the house, stripped down to his underwear and jumped into the canal. He was able to pull the two occupants and their dog out of the vehicle to safety as it was filling up with water. Luckily, everyone was mostly okay (driver was taken to the hospital) thanks to his quick action and bravery. Very few people know about this and he very likely saved a life or at least saved them from serious injury. Once he got the occupants out of the car, paramedics had just arrived and whisked the occupants away.

I recently interviewed a former CIA agent who teaches people how to protect themselves or others like a spy would. His top tools that he shares: Survival intelligence and situational awareness. Sadly, because of conditioning (e.g., cell phones), impairment (drugs/alcohol), and blunted or disordered proprioception, a majority of people fail to react when a reaction could have saved their life or the lives of others. 

God forbid any of us should find ourselves in a life-threatening situation, but should that happen, let's pray that people of the caliber and readiness of Majiah Washington or Tom will be able to come to our aid.