Wave of heroism on turbulent water

We have seen nature at its worst.

Eternal spring storms have taken rivers and streams over their banks, making a monstrous mess of the suburbs.

Storms suddenly pop up, packing vicious winds.

All threaten neighborhoods, homes, financial security -- and our very lives.

Emotions, mostly negative, can drag us under the surface -- hopelessness at the sheer work of cleaning sodden homes, frustration at the red tape of replacing belongings, anger at the weather's capriciousness that made us victims.

Then along come stories that lift our spirits and make us certain that, indeed, adversity does bring out the best in some people.

And we are thankful for them.

People like fishing boat Capt. Jason Lee and a U.S. Coast Guard crew who saved six other people when a violent microburst sank Lee's boat in Lake Michigan two miles off Waukegan Harbor.

Lee, leading a group of six people from Geneva on a fishing outing May 30, lost the boat on which he lived when a sudden, violent storm whipped Lake Michigan into 10-foot waves. But he saved all their lives by directing the others into life jackets and off the sinking boat while he stayed aboard to radio their final location, nearly drowning as the boat dragged him under. That led the Waukegan-based Coast Guard team to the group, with a helicopter and a boat, in time to save them from the 48-degree water.

"(Lee) made them easy to find," said USCG Pilot Lt. Jim McWilliams. "Had they had to be in the water another 10, 15 minutes while we looked for them, it might have been too late."

It wasn't an easy rescue for the Coast Guard. The helicopter had to hover in high winds while Rescue Swimmer Chris Bernis jumped into the water.

And then there is Peter Hamm.

Peter, a precocious Elgin 10-year-old, last weekend was participating in a fishing derby on Elgin's Walton Island in the middle of the Fox River.

He noticed the fidgety 3-year-old near him throwing things into the river and the child's dad fumbling with his tangled fishing line. And saw the youngster slip into the drink.

"My first thoughts were, 'Go get that kid, or he's gonna die,' " Peter told reporter Harry Hitzeman. "I didn't want that to happen."

So he grabbed the boy's leg and he and the dad hauled him ashore.

Peter is rightfully self-satisfied, but he also was rewarded by organizers and a participant in the fishing derby with a canteen, a cooler and a fishing pole -- things every 10-year-old boy needs at the start of summer vacation.

All are astonishing examples of perseverance, leadership and good will. And they give us something to think about -- and examples to set ourselves against -- when Mother Nature comes at us again.