Charles Ramsey, an American hero

By Rick Hall

I’m sure many of you have heard of the name, Charles Ramsey, and those who have may not know exactly who he is.  I confess that I knew who he was, but I did not know his name until just recently.  He is the man that rescued the girls that had been kidnapped (allegedly) in Cleveland by Ariel Castro.

It has been a year since the rescue of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight.  Normally, I wouldn’t have thought about this, but I was watching a talk show the other night and Mr. Ramsey was being interviewed about a book he has just written.  The book is titled “Dead Giveaway.”

As I watched the interview, two things impressed me about Mr. Ramsey.  The first was his guilt, for lack of a better word, over not discovering the girls earlier than he did.  The second was his sense of humor.  He can deliver a one-liner better than even the most seasoned of comedians.

The guilt was what impressed me the most.  You could tell that he was genuinely upset at himself for not having discovered the girls prior to that day last year.  He stated that he had barbequed with Mr. Castro.  Ramsey said the he had drunk several times with Mr. Castro.  They talked about everything from food to music.

He was angry with himself for not seeing through his neighbor, who loved to keep his house in pristine condition, but didn’t allow too many people to enter it.  Ramsey seemed to indicate that he thought this was just a quirk of Mr. Castro’s.  Mr. Ramsey had only been neighbors with Mr. Castro for about a year when the incident happened, so he should not feel guilty over the actions of a psychopath.

I’ll admit that when I began to watch the interview, I was thinking that Mr. Ramsey was using his fifteen minutes of fame to enrich himself.  Now, I am sure he is going to get a nice stipend from the sale of his story, but he is also putting some of that money into a fund that is going to be used to help rehab houses in the Cleveland.  He’s doing this so that people who don’t make a lot of money will still be able live the American dream of owning their own homes.

One of the things that shocked me, even though it should not have, was a comment he made about the way he was attacked for a statement he made to the press within hours of rescuing the girls.  He stated that he knew something was wrong when a pretty little white girl ran into the arms of a black man and that was a dead giveaway.  Now, I paraphrased what the man said, but I got the gist of it.

Here is my question?  What was wrong with his statement?  Maybe I am not too PC enough to understand the “wrongness” of his statement?  I honestly don’t know.   Does anyone out there think that the girls’ families were upset that a “black man” saved their daughters?  Really, is there anyone that thinks that way?   I hope not!  Had somebody kidnapped my child, I wouldn’t care if his rescuer was “Barbie Doll Corvette Pink” with chartreuse green racing stripes tattooed across their forehead, I’d still want to hug that person and tell them that my love of them for saving my child would be undying.  I guess some people just need to grow up and shut up.

I’ll close by wishing Mr. Ramsey all the success in the world.  I hope he does exceptionally well with the house rehabs.  If not, there is always stand-up comedy.  It is my prayer that there are more Charles Ramsey’s out there in this great nation and I believe there are.

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