"What better way to start out the new year, than to save somebody's life?" asked Wesley Autrey, the 50 year old Harlem resident who jumped to the subway tracks to save a student who had fallen from the platform.
     Autrey, a construction worker, is handsome enough to play himself in Hollywood's version of the story. The movie's title should be, Wesley Autrey, SuperHero.
     Wondering if New Yorkers had changed, become more altruistic, The New York Times presented potentially dangerous scenarios: running in to a burning building to save a child; wrenching the jaws of a pit bull from a helpless victim; jumping from a ferry to save someone who had fallen in to the water; interceding in the mugging of an elderly woman; telling a friend you think they are marrying the wrong person. Then posed the question: Would you do it?
     I'm not a New Yorker, but in the spirit of the Times questions, I've been looking for ways to test my humanitarianism. Just last week, driving away from the grocery store, I spotted an older woman who appeared to be in a state of distress. Holding tightly to a shopping cart, she looked furtively towards the parking lot. "She can't get to her car because of the rain and wind," I said to my husband. "Ask if we can help her." He jumped from our car, hurried to the woman and asked if she needed assistance. As it turned out, she was waiting for her daughter who was in the nearby liquor store buying wine.
     Only days before, I had spied a woman walking with one of those fold-up shopping carts. "It's freezing," I said to my husband. "I'll bet she's walking all the way to the supermarket. Let's go back and offer her a ride." Sure enough, the woman was cold and accepted our offer. I kept looking for a boulder to come careening towards our car so I could stop it with my bare hands to prove how brave and selfless I am, but the only thing that got in our way was a red light.
     He's not a reluctant helper, but I could sense my hubby didn't think either of these gestures equaled throwing ourselves in the way of an oncoming subway train or wrestling a pit bull. Still, I wanted to be ready. Wesley Autrey had served in the Navy and "It's easier for people who are prepared," said a University of Miami psychology professor quoted in the Times.
     I'd almost given up hope when a rescue situation presented itself. Just as my niece and I were finishing our get-together, a woman approached us. She needed directions. I leapt from the table in a single bound, bid my niece adieu, and told the woman not to worry: I would get her safely to her lunch engagement. Finding her destination in the phone book, I called to get directions and drew a map on a napkin.
     I wanted to pick her up and soar like a bird. Up! Up! In the sky and down Second Avenue to deliver her to the luncheon just in the nick of time. But her car was waiting outside.
     It's not saving a life, I told myself, but being lost can be traumatic. Especially for a lunch date. As for the burning building and pit bull, I'll have to keep my eyes open. But I hope a friend never asks me to do the impossible—tell them if they're marrying the right person. Even Wesley Autrey might shy away from that one.