Everyone has heroes. You might guess mine were Bill Gates, Bob Dylan, JFK, MLK, or any number of the folks I’ve written about on this blog before.
Truth be told, for me, it’s my two brothers Jamie and Josh. They have always stood by me and supported me when things got tough.
In Josh’s case he has also stood by the people of New York City as well. Here are some great photos of one of the true heroes of our time, Josh Calacanis, fighting the good fight. He might not be on the cover of Fortune, but I can tell you what he does is much, much, more important and brave then what I do every day. Running into a burning building to save lives—amazing.
Every time I see him in photos like this I think about how on 9/11 I almost lost him. When the buildings were on fire and we didn’t know where he was I said to myself, “please God, don’t let him be down there. He’ll be the first one to run up those stairs.” His firehouse in Williamsburg was 10 minutes away from the World Trade Center. He missed being there by 15 minutes, and he lost a lot of friends that day. He spent the next month in “the pit” trying to rescue folks—sadly, we all know how many people made it out that day.
These photos were taken by a New York Daily News photographer. Click them for larger versions.
1. Good for you, Jason. He does sound like a good hero: someone who does what he thinks is right and helps other people out. It's important to have heroes like that, especailly around this time of year when everyone else seems to be worshipping a group of overpaid men who rush around on a field chasing a piece of pigskin. The real heroes are the people who do good things without getting paid millions; they do it because they know it's the right thing to do. Oh, and Henry: I think you missed something off your comment. You probably meant to put "nobody cares what I think, because I'm an ignorant moron."
Posted at 4:41PM on Oct 29th 2005 by Richard Baguley