Heros in Waiting

Today on the Ellen Degeneres Show I saw a story that particularly caught my attention. About a week ago, a man with three children in the car was driving on an icy road and Utah and the car slid into an icy river and became submerged. The driver was able to escape but the three children were trapped inside. Immediately a dozen people who had witnessed the accident were diving in to help. Thankfully, after a lot of effort the three children were saved.

Ellen had this family on the show, along with the twelve people who helped save them. Deeming them heros, she rewarded them by giving them all the presents from her previous "Twelve Day Give Away" special, valued at over $30,000. What really interested me though was the conversation that took place prior to give away. 

The driver on the car mentioned that something he took away form this experience was that we are "surrounded by heros-in-waiting." This made me think about the conversation we had in class earlier in the year regarding heros. What motivates people act heroically? Does seeing acts such as these being generously rewarded on television perhaps increase peoples' willingness to act heroically? Are we all "heros-in-waiting" (some more so than others)?

[The full video from Ellen's show can be watched here]