Imrem: Three heroes truly worthy of a parade
Let's have another downtown parade and Grant Park celebration.
It's about time, isn't it? We haven't had any since when, June for the Blackhawks?
The Cubs could be next when they clinch a playoff berth. Or maybe the Bears will be worthy if they simply beat Green Bay in their season opener.
It has come down to that: Sports and parades go together like rum and Coke.
But there are other heroes in the world, you know?
Three of them were on TV late Sunday morning as the reluctant stars of a news conference beamed from France.
U.S. Ambassador to France Jane Hartley said, "We often use the word hero … "
She couldn't have been talking about sports, could she have been?
" … and in this case I know that the word has never been more appropriate."
Sitting with Ambassador Hartley were the three Americans who saved myriad lives by thwarting a heavily armed assailant on an Amsterdam-to-Paris train Friday.
To think, the Hawks thought they were having an eventful summer showing off the Stanley Cup.
Anyway, of all the reasons to be proud to be an American, these young men zoomed to the top of the list.
Every city in the United States should honor them with a parade worthy of a championship sports team.
We worship "heroes" for winning games by sinking 3-foot putts on the 72nd hole and 2 free throws with no time left on the clock.
Anyone hitting a walk-off home run is "courageous" under pressure. Heck, anyone who wins a game with a walk-off walk is "courageous" in the face of adversity.
They're all heroes until real heroes step up like the three longtime friends on summer holiday in Europe did.
If a football player is a hero for kicking a game-winning field goal, what are Air Force airman Spencer Stone, National Guard specialist Alek Skarlatos and college student Anthony Sadler?
Those are the three Americans who became real-life action heroes by preventing a tragedy while riding through Belgium.
"It wasn't really a conscious decision," Skarlatos calmly said. "We just reacted."
What do you call people who are bigger than a sports hero? Are they heroes' heroes?
Regardless, Sadler urged any of us in similar predicaments, "Please do something, don't just stand by and watch"?
Stone, Skarlatos and Sadler - each must wear an "S" on his chest now for his last name and/or for "Superhero" - were minding their own business on vacation.
A couple of days later they were answering reporters' questions in the American ambassador's Paris residence.
"I knew it would be bigger than the initial investigation," Sadler said, "but I didn't know it would be like this."
Real heroes are like that: They don't anticipate cheers from sellout crowds or want to come out of the dugout and tip their caps.
No, real heroes don't expect statues of their likenesses to be erected like the ones for Cubs players outside Wrigley Field and White Sox players inside Comiskey Park.
Firefighters just do their jobs inside burning buildings. Cops just do their jobs while ducking gunfire. The U.S. Military just does its job under extreme circumstances around the world.
Meanwhile, Sadler said, "I'm still waiting to wake up … It all seems like a movie."
Maybe the French will have a parade for these three young Americans like, you know, we would back here if they brought home a sports championship.
mimrem@dailyherald.com