18 people share the most heroic things they've ever seen someone do.

While the term "hero" might initially invoke characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe or tireless activists, everyday people are capable of being heroes in the least expected ways. Oftentimes, people show their true colors in times of emergency, and this is when the heroics have a chance to jump out.Since the newscycle is currently rife with threats of war and widespread despair, it's encouraging to remember all the ways people can help each other individually. While it might not always feel that way, each person affects countless people through a ripple effect (for better or worse).In a popular Reddit thread, people shared the most heroic thing they've seen someone else do, and it'll hopefully restore a glint of your faith in humanity.1. NannySkeksis watched a man save a family in a flash. Saw a car flip over on the highway. The second the car stopped sliding on the road a guy came out with a bat, broke the windows, and grabbed 2 children out of the backseat then got the adults out. 2. StellarView's mom saved a man's life. It was when I was about 8 or 9 years old. and we were in London. Out of nowhere, this shabbily looking guy (I guess he was homeless) runs out into the middle of the road when a red bus was just turning. My mum, a pretty chubby lady, runs into the road before this guy's guts gets splattered across the road and pulls him back. He struggled for a bit but she started comforting him, telling him "It's gonna be okay." She sat there for an hour or so with him and we cleaned him up and got him some food. I know it was the first meal he had in ages and he felt as if at the end of his wits. She hugged him goodbye and I still think about him sometimes. Sometimes I want to be like my mother, even though she's a stubborn bitch. TL;DR: My mum saved a guy from committing suicide. 3. jamholes watched a kid defend a smaller kid against the big bully. There was a crowd outside my high school surrounding a very one-sided fight. A teacher came to break it up after what seemed like an extremely long minute. I found out later that this well known bully had been shoving one of the smallest kids in my grade trying to get him to fight back to no avail. This kid was doing his best to get away but the bully would just grab him and throw him to the ground. Eventually this kid steps in between them and says, 'f*ck you, that's enough.' He was probably average sized, which was still smaller than the bully. The bully swings, the kid dodges and tackles him to the ground, starting the fight. The kid got the shit beat out of him, but he was at least able to break the bully's nose. It takes major balls to willingly get into a fight you know you don't have a chance of winning. That kid became a hero in the school and damn did he deserve it. 4. nikkaaplz watched a stranger save someone's child. I was once down town getting groceries for my mother, and when I got out the store, walking towards my bike, I see a mother crossing the street, with groceries in one hand, her 3 yearish old daughter in the other hand 5-6 yearish old son a bit further behind. Just as the mother has crossed the street she her son starts to cross the street as well. He didn't see the car comming towards him with about 50km/h. A random stranger that is nearby turns his head and sees the car, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down, instinctively he just runs to the kid and grabs him, holds him tight with his back turned to wards the car, literaly half a second before impact. The windshield of the car gets smashed, and the guy holding the kid rolls over the car somehow managing to land on his back. I run towards them to check if they're okay and the kid is crying as well as the mother. That was the first time I called 911. The kid said his arm was hurting but I don't know what actually happened to the guy and the kid, as I left after the ambulance came and I didn't really check up on it. 5. I_Love_All_Women watched their neighbor casually be a hero. Watched a drunk guy speed down my block and hit a light pole. Car flipped upside down. Caught on fire. Guy is screaming bloody murder. My neighbor heard it from inside. She jogged over to the car while I called 911 and pulled the guy out. BOOM. Entire car engulfs in flames right after. She casually walks back inside after making sure the cops are on their way and he is alive. She was a very modest woman....Didn't want any attention for doing the "right" thing. 6. Gumshooo has nothing but respect for Marcus. There was once a kid at high school who was constantly picked on. We'll call him Jacob. It was an almost all-black school, and this kid was a scrawny, white little nerd, who was often targeted by freshman (even though he was a junior at the time I think) so that they could prove that they were tough. This was totally unfair to Jacob, who kept his head down, and I don't think I ever heard him speak, even though I had many classes with him over the years. One day, some young kids are shoving him in the hallway, and are quickly stopped by an AP. Then they start saying things like "we know bus you take" and "we're gonna get you tomorrow." Well, tomorrow comes, and word has gotten around that some kids were going to beat up some other kid after school (fights happened every day there, but it was rare that people knew the time and place, plus if it was after school, there was more of a chance for a spectacle), and people started to make plans to watch it happen. I had heard about it in first period. So, after school, I'm walking down to go to basketball practice, and I see Jacob (who had no doubt heard about his impending fate) booking it down hall, just trying to get out of school and to the bus stop before anyone saw him. There were maybe 30 kids following him (not the bullies, just spectators). I also followed, curiously, with a few of my basketball teammates. Jacob got outside, and was almost immediately shoved down a grassy slope right outside of the door by one of the bullies who had been waiting for him. The other bullies were waiting at the bottom. Then, suddenly, one of the forwards from the basketball team (a very popular, hulking Adonis named Marcus) is running down the hill, just as Jacob reaches the bullies. Some of the other athletes follow, and proceed to shove and intimidate the bullies, while a couple others pick up and dust off Jacob. Marcus, as far as I knew, had never met Jacob, but after scaring the bullies away, offered Jacob a ride home. Marcus was late coming back to school to practice, but by then coaches had found out what had happened and didn't say a word about it. I saw the whole thing go down, and regret that I didn't get involved myself. This was an act of pure goodness on Marcus' part, and it inspired several others to do the right thing and help that poor kid. As far as I knew, nobody else ever f*cked with Jacob. 7. PEE_ALL_OVER_ME saw a dad of the year at work. This guy's 9-year-old daughter had diarrhea in a swimming pool and he took the blame for it to protect her dignity. 8. phonetoilet knew a guy who took the blame so everyone else could go to the theme park. It was our last year in primary school and there was a trip to a newly opened theme park organised for the year (no-ones parents would bring them because it was ridiculously expensive normally but the principal knew the guy who owned and we got a good deal). Everyone was delighted about this and we were all looking forward to it until about a week before we were messing in the computer room and while we were having a pile on accidentally knocked over one of the tables and we all watched in horror as about five brand new computers fell over. We were then brought to the office where we were told there wasn't a chance we were going to the park and we were lucky to not be expelled. We were all devastated until one of the quieter guys marched into the principal's office a day before the trip and announced he alone had pulled down the table. We all thanked him the morning of the trip but felt a bit sorry for him as he had to spend the day with the younger classes. With his legend status secure, we bizarrely never saw him again as he moved to Australia and that was his last day in the school. 9. The_Dead_See saw grandma take matters into her own hands. I was sitting at the window seat in a restaurant once and outside I saw this big guy in the crowded high street start wailing on his gf. Full on head punches. Everyone was standing around watching - bystander effect I guess. But this Granny - had to be going on 85 - looks around in disbelief at all the gawping onlookers then hobbles over to him and starts beating him around the head with her handbag. The guy was just stunned. I think he knew he couldn't fight the old lady back because she'd broken the bystander effect and the crowd would lynch him. So he just fended off as many blows from the handbag as he could then ran away. 10. superjennifer's very short aunt gave heimlich to their very tall cousin. Last Christmas my 6' tall cousin started choking on a piece of turkey and his 4'11" stepmom who is a birthing nurse gave him the Heimlich after she walked into the room & found him passed out. she was lifting him off the ground, she was thrusting so hard & finally the piece came flying out his mouth. It was her first time ever have to give the Heimlich to anyone outside of certification/training classes & it saved my cousin's life because she was the only one in the room when he passed out from it. The sheer size difference between them is what makes it amazing. 11. singleusethro's brother saved their life. One day my father got drunk and decided he needed to have some attention. He got his gun out and held my mother and I hostage, threatening to shoot us and/or himself. I called my brother who is a police officer. My brother arrives at the house, looked at the situation for a split second and attacked my father, wrestling for the gun. I sat there in shock, it was like watching a movie. I could not move or act, wondering if my brother or my father would die in this struggle. It lasted about 25 seconds or so but seemed a lifetime. Thankfully my brother had been trained for this situation, and he had placed his thumb between the hammer of the gun that cocks back and firing pin so the gun would not go off. Thanks for the memories dad and the PTSD (there were more incidents later of gun violence also). We had him committed several times, but to no avail. Years later my father killed himself because he realized that he was hurting his family and he was powerless to stop or accept help. 12. HootnHoller's mom is a hero. My mom for sure. when I was a child I walked out in the back yard to find my brother choking on a lolipop that came off the stick. I ran back in the house and yelled "Billy is choking!!" My mom came running out, picked him up, threw him over her arm and started pounding on his back. She was hysteric because of the gurgling noises he was making. She turned him upside down and started lifting him up and down with a bouncing motion as she ran to the neighbor's house for help. I followed her. We entered the neighbor's house where the neighbor lady and my mom both tried everything possible to get the chunk of hard candy to dislodge from my brother's throat. He was blue and unconscious and my mom kept yelling we're losing him. They were both crying. My job was to run out in the street and flag the ambulance. I was waving my arms as the ambulance came but the drove right past me for about 30 yards and then backed up. I was screaming at them that my brother was choking and they followed me up the stairs to the house. Just as we came in the door I heard my mom say "He's breathing!". Most intense thing I've ever experienced. He's fine now and has become very successful in life. Thanks Mom!!. 13. MedicGirl watched their mom save a woman's life. My mother, who is probably the quietest and most unassuming person I know, stepped up into the middle of a domestic assault. We were doing some shopping and we came out of a store to see this huge guy take a swing at this girl while calling her all sorts of filthy names. He knocked the girl down and she stood up to get away, but he grabbed her and started shaking her and hitting her. The guy was easily 6' tall or taller and built like a brick shit house. My mother calmly told me to call 911 and she walked up to the guy, telling him, "If you don't put her down, I'll beat your a*s like your mother should have." I'm on the phone with the cops and I run over to help, as I'm afraid this guy is going to make short work of my mother. The guy threatens to beat my mother up and before I can say anything, he raises his fist to hit her and she slugged him so hard in the solar plexus that he just crumpled to the ground wheezing. At this point, several other bystanders who were just standing around came over and held the guy down until the cops got there. My mother, who was all of 5'2" and nearly sixty years old stepped into the middle of a fight to keep a girl from getting hurt or killed. I've done absolutely nothing in my life that can compare to what she did. 14. makevelito watched the whole lunch room stand up against the bully. I was having lunch in school when suddenly a fight broke down. It was between a bully and a weak and small boy. As I got up a pretty average-sized boy comes running behind the bully and hits him with a chair. As he is stunned his friends come behind him and attack the chair boy. As they approach a few more guys come charging with chairs and pretty much destroy the bad guys. It happened for maybe 10 seconds. After that the principal rebuked almost every guy and that was it. 15. kenjimasuda's dad was a hero on a daily basis. Watching my Father get up and go to work with 13 herniated disks in his back every day until the pain meds literally killed him (Cancer). This was about a 10 year process and he never once complained, he was doing what his family needed regardless. 16. lunchylady's son figured out a whole system to help his classmate during lunch time. While it may sound mild to you, and maybe even bias, I watched my son do something that by today's standards is rare and wonderful. There is a little girl in his class (he's in 7th, so they have lunch together) that was born without arms or legs. She spends her days in an electric wheelchair, so it's really difficult for her to get a tray, her food, etc and get back to her table in time to be able to eat. She refuses to let her aide help now because she feels like it only singles her out more and only serves to call attention to her disability. She wanted to do it herself, and while it killed everyone, she was allowed her to do her thing without interference. She and my son share a lunch together and sit at tables near each other. He's known her since 1st grade and talks to her pretty often. He noticed that she'd been struggling pretty bad and not really finding the time to finish her meals, so he asked her a couple of weeks ago if maybe he could help her through line and she politely declined. It was really bothering him that she wasn't getting through fast enough (she's quite social and school is one of her few chances to get that side of her out), so he came up with another solution and proposed it to one of the lunch ladies at his school. (I work at another school) He actually took the time to figure out what time she usually arrived in the cafe. Then, because there are two lines with different meals, he spoke with one of the lunch ladies to see if they knew what she usually gets on certain days. Unfortunately, she's a finicky eater and wasn't very predictable on that front. But, since they knew he was doing something nice, worked with him (and called me to make sure somebody was paying for the extras if need be-of course) and we worked it out that they would prepare her food in a way that she would have everything they offered without having to go through line with another adult (or by herself). Right before she was due to come in, he would get her tray and meet her outside the cafeteria with it, keeping her on time and sparing her any distress she felt by taking so long. Even better, they sit very near the door, so we were hoping it would be less noticeable she'd come IN with a tray. Since I know those woman, and they were so touched, they called me to come watch it unfold for the first time. We were all nervous that she'd be offended that we'd done this and end up feeling worse. So, myself, a bunch of lunch ladies, the principal, the vice principal, her aide and a teacher who just so happened to be there were hiding out, fingers crossed, hoping like hell it wouldn't go wrong. Fortunately, she rolled into that cafeteria, went straight to her table without even a notice from anyone else and her smile was just beautiful. We all just sat watching, crying like babies. An entire grade's lunch halted because the lunch ladies had gone spastic! My son walked back in and spotted me, rolled his eyes a little because he thinks I'm a nerd....but gave me a discreet thumbs up and went back to his own business. I have never been prouder. My son was a hero that day, not just to his mom, but to another kid and a whole bunch of adults. It's the little things, ya know? And to go out of your way for anyone is just an awesome thing in and of itself...and that day, it was my boy. -edit- Thank you for all the kind words and the not entirely deserved parenting praise. He's a good kid, and I'd love to claim all the good things, but he's surrounded by good family and friends and they've all been positive people in his life. I won't tell you he's an angel, because I don't know a 12 year old that is. Not twenty minutes before I wrote this I was giving him a lecture about why tossing his socks at his moving ceiling fan is not a good idea. As for how she eats (maybe I should have clarified this in some way), she has a very small part of her right arm left that she uses for just about everything she possibly can, including working her wheelchair. From what I can understand, she eats perfectly fine by herself via the use of some kind of thing that straps on that one part of her right arm. And as for how she 'carries' her tray, she uses a small table that is attached to her wheelchair and it sits on that. Her parents are pretty phenomenal people, and she's one of the most delightful young girls I've ever met despite what she deals with on a daily basis. I think, somewhere in that 12 year old head of his, my son recognizes that. As most parents will know, you're never sure you're doing the right things with your kids or teaching them the right kind of lessons. I'm constantly second guessing myself. I'll admit, it was a damn good feeling to see that somewhere, somehow, something had gone right in his world. 17. OwnageWalrus's friends saved a drunk man. It was my 21st birthday and friends and I decided to go to Rockville Centre (Long Island) to go to some bars. The night was winding down when my girlfriend and I decided to go the train station to get on the train home. When we got on the platform I ran into two kids that I went to highschool, both of them are life guards and we got to talking. Out of the corner of my eye i see an extremely drunk kid stumble over the platform and land face first (5ft down) on the tracks. This kid was around 6ft 200+ lbs and completely wasted. He was laying lifeless on the tracks when my two friends jumped down and attempted to rescue him. In the distance the train starts blaring its horn realizing that someone is on the tracks. My friends attempt to haul him up but he is resisting them and throwing punches. When the train is around 50 feet away one of the kids jumps back on the platform and hauls the drunk kid up. With literally 1 second to spare the one who was pushing the drunk kid from the tracks gets on the platform, barely getting his feet up in time. This was so amazing heroic and these two kids are amazing, while I, was beta. TLDR: Two friends rescue unconscious drunk man from getting run over by a train. 18. rokstaar's friend saved a life. I was at a small music festival in east TN 5 years ago that was being hosted on a small local campground. The parking area for all of the guests camped at the festival was located accross a two-lane highway which split the property (camping on one side, road, parking) there was a fence which I guess was designed to prevent people from accidentally entering the roadway. Either way, inevitably, people would need access to their cars at some point over the weekend. The roadway was a small country highway so traffic was light if at all, and the continuous flow of people going to and from their car lead to a lighter sense of the situation. `Around dusk on the second afternoon, my girlfriend and buddy were at our campsite which happened to be located adjacent to the fence I mentioned earlier. As we were sitting around talking, we hear a loud screeching noise and crash sound. A woman yelled out from a few campsites away "Oh my God! That boy has just been hit by a truck!" We immediately jump up and run over to the fence in time to see a man, about my age laying on the pavement with various broken bones, seizuring on his back as blood sprayed into the air in a fine mist. My buddy, unbeknownst to me, was a fireman and ended up vaulting the fence and running down to the injured man. As he ran up to the man lying in the street, my buddy rips his t-shirt off splitting it at the neck down across his chest. Holding the tattered fabric in his mouth he pulls the wounded man off of the road into the grass between himself and the campground and ties off the area spraying blood out of this poor guys leg. It took about 10 minutes for paramedics to respond, and the injured man was unconscious as I'm guessing he was in a state of shock. The paramedics said that an injury like that unattended would have let the victim bleed out in a matter of moments and dude no doubt saved his life. The guy driving the pearl escalade fled the scene at the time of the accident, but the group hosting the event made an announcement the next day stating that he had in fact been caught by local authorities, and also let everyone know that the man who had been struck was in stable condition- although was now facing criminal charges for some illegal stuff found in his bloody shorts.