There's not much more violent than Jesus' death by crucifixion, which was solemnly remembered by Christians around the world last Friday.

The Easter story is one of sacrifice and atonement, then Resurrection and victory.British-born Anglican theologian and philosopher Sarah Coakley feels that sacrifice is central to human experience and needs to be restored as a central biological, ethical and theological principle.With so much chaos and evil in the world, it's fortunate to see acts of sacrifice and heroism evident in society.Americans can find examples among those protecting us in law enforcement, the military and the trained emergency responders serving us on the homefront.During Holy Week, I was inspired by two stories involving courage and selfless sacrifice.One was told to me by a World War II veteran named Harry who was visiting the military museum I'm active with in southwest Florida.Harry, now 92, was a gunner in a Sherman tank during the war and received two Purple Hearts for battlefield wounds.He lost two buddies in one of the actions when a German 88 mm shell struck their tank. He earned a second Purple Heart after being shot through both shoulders by a German sniper two days AFTER the war was declared over in Europe.The Americans were chasing down Nazi SS troops, among the most hard-core and fanatical fighters in the German army.Harry, who still plays golf, told me he lost his medals somewhere.When I told him he can have them replaced, he said he's too old and that medals and awards really don't mean that much to him now.It's an honor to call Harry, a man with such a selfless spirit, my friend.The other story that inspired me involved two Florida deputies who saved the life of a woman trapped in her burning vehicle after a three-car crash involving a septic tank truck.Officers Robert Sunkel and Linda Nolan used crowbars to attempt to open the van doors, which were stuck.They then broke the back window and, fighting through the smoke and heat, managed to crawl to the front of the vehicle and free the woman.On New Year's Day this year, a crash closer to home led to similar heroic action by officer Patrick Ribec in Swatara Township, Dauphin County.He was first to reach the crash scene after a car with a man and his young children struck a utility pole and rolled onto its side.The driver's young son managed to crawl out of the mangled car after the crash, but the driver and his infant daughter remained trapped inside.Officer Ribec managed to cut the straps of the child safety seat and pulled the infant out of the car's smashed back window. He then returned to the burning vehicle and rescued the driver."People look at us as we're always hard and don't have any emotions with each other or other people, but we do," said Sgt. Dawn Alexander of the sheriff's office concerning last week's heroic rescue in Citrus County, Florida."We all have families, we have kids who drive on the road, and this could've been our child. We treat every situation like this could be our child or our family. "If sacrifice is central to human experience asCoakley suggests, then we're fortunate to have exceptional individuals like this protecting society.By Jim Zbick |

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