A Georgia man recently rescued two elderly women from a housefire, pulling them from the burning building:
The Dalton Fire Department responded, however, one neighbor got there before the homeowners realized what was going on.
Faye Wooten and Carolyn Nelson thought people were setting off fireworks, but it was their car blowing up in their garage.
“I got the phone call at 3:23 this morning and all I could hear was my aunt screaming,” said Anita Dockery, a niece of Faye and Carolyn.
“When I was inside the house one of the ladies said help me, help me,” Abraham Sanchez Lopez is a neighbor to Faye Wooten and Carolyn Nelson and he was the one that saved their lives.
Abraham recounted the moment he realized his neighbors’ home was in flames.
“I said, that’s not a little building on fire, it’s in the house,” said Abraham.
Abraham lives just behind Faye and Carolyn. He said he jumped the fence and ran to the front of the house where there is only one exit.
“I was running and looking for people, I don’t see help, I don’t see trucks like right now, traffic… I don’t see nobody,” said Abraham.
He pounded on the door and tried to get inside.
“My aunts thought that it was fireworks cause they kept hearing crackling and popping. They thought people were still shooting fireworks from the 4th,” said Dockery.
Faye and Carolyn had no idea their home was going up in flames, but Abraham knew he had to do something quick.
“No, I don’t see nobody… just go straight to the glass, the window, break the window because I don’t know maybe the lady inside sleeping… in the smoke,” said Abraham.
Abraham got inside and found the two sisters. Carolyn was in her wheelchair but their ramp outside was covered in fire, so Abraham had to kick down their porch rail to get them down.
“She said that when he came out of that door and kicked that railing in, he looked like the incredible hulk,” said Dockery.
The ladies made it out safely, but their Niece Anita told NewsChannel 9 that the home is a total loss.
“When I think about what could have happened, I mean all this stuff can be replaced, but their lives can’t be replaced,’ said Dockery.
Anita said she can’t thank Abraham enough for helping her aunts. Abraham said in a situation like this- you can’t think, you just have to do it and he’s happy everyone is safe.
The fire department said they’re not sure what might have started this fire. The car in the drive way might be to blame but they should have answers by the end of this week. (source, source)
I do not know the man. I cannot speak definitively for him. However, I know the area where he is from.
This particular part of Georgia has had a tremendous influx of Hispanic immigrants, and almost all of them are from Guatemala. I can also say that almost all of these immigrants, who work in low-paying jobs in factories around the city- particularly the infamous carpet mills -are here illegally or on terms that are highly questionable.
I cannot say for sure, but given the circumstances, it is likely that this man is an illegal immigrant.
I bring this up as a reminder to people about the current immigration debacle in the US, which neither political party wants to solve because illegal immigration is the unspoken underpin to much of US foreign policy as well as a crucial political football tossed by both parties for their benefit without care to the people who are affected.
Many of the immigrants who come from Central America do so from desperate situations. It is difficult to imagine living on what is an annual salary equivalent to eight weeks of working at the federal minimum wage or less in nations and communities that have been wracked by war, gang violence, and social dysfunction. Surely there are may people who come from such countries who are criminals, but many are not and come out of what they view as their only chance for a better life.
While many will focus on the criminal activities that some commit, there are also many who do not do such things. This is one example of such.
It is similar to the May 2018 case of Mamoudou Gassama, a Malian Muslim immigrant to France who famously climbed a building to save a baby:
Clearly there is a problem with violence from many asylum-seekers in Europe. However, not all are evil people, and there are many good people. What is of concern is that, as I have noted, conditions are being encouraged that bring about violence, and said violence is being used to justify nationalism and in turn lead to militarism. A similar pattern is happening in the US.
It is true there are laws pertaining to immigration, and laws are important and must be followed. Yet one must take a look at the greater picture of what is happening, and see that immigration is being used as it was in the past, which is a vehicle to further militaristic and eugenic ideas for a wealthy class that, in the words of Smedley Butler, “WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.” (source)
Most of the immigrants are average people attempting to escape from what is a hell for them, and are willing to do anything to escape because they have no home to return to, or at least, one that nobody would want to return to.
Never forget that in any discussion with immigration, to carefully temper the desire for justice with mercy, remembering to consider their perspective as well. Maybe one of them will save one of our own grandmother’s someday from a housefire, or a neighbor’s child hanging off of a balcony, or perhaps one of us.
When God looks down from Heaven, at the end of our lives he is less concerned with one’s patriotism, nationalism, or other attributes. Rather, it is to ask did a man love his neighbor, and if so, how did he show it, because after the greatest commandment- to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all your soul, and all your strength -is to love one’s neighbor as oneself.
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