Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Angel from Heaven

Recently, big news in Detroit comes from a young 7 year old girl by the name of Alexis Goggins currently being hailed as "an angel from heaven" after being shot six times in a valiant effort to protect her mother from being killed by an old ex-boyfriend, Calvin Tillie, a four-time convicted felon. Because of her efforts, her mother is alive, having only sustained a wound to the head and to her bicep, and even after sustaining damage to her eye, left temple, chin, cheek, chest and right arm is now in stable condition at a Detroit children's hospital. While how a person could commit such a ruthlessly heinous act as "pumping" six shots into Alexis without hesitation, I find it even more amazing how a girl so young would sacrifice herself in an attempt to save her mothers life. Some people could sight this as evidence to the nature of people. Many questions come to mind concerning what was going through her mind when she did this act of heroism. Did she think that Tillie would shoot her? If she did think he was going to shoot her, what drove her to make a move towards Tillie? Was it merely a reaction seeing the gun fired the first time or was this a conscious effort? Or, is it that she cared so deeply for her mother that she was willing to sacrifice herself in order to save her? If you or I were placed in the same situation with our own mother would we do the same or does Alexis and her mother share a far closer bond than most parents and their children? I think that this was truly an act of altruism with Alexis protecting her mother the way she did. I think that her actions are something that many people (or at least myself) who have a healthy relationship with their parents would do. Would you take 6 bullets for one or both of your parents?

3 comments:

A said...

It is usually the case that a parent would do anything for their child. Often mothers say they would risk their lives for their children, but it is never seen that a child risks their life for their parent. On one hand I would say that I would risk my life for my parents and that our bond and relationship proves that I don't think i could live without them. But on the other hand I know that they would rather take the bullet for me and let me live out my life. This is a debatable topic. In the case of the little seven year old i am not quite sure if at the age of seven you know the consequenses of your actions. And that in most cases taking a bullet let alone six bullets will most likely result in yur death. I think theis was a very heoric act on the part of the little girl and i am shocked that the shooter contiued to shoot at her.

yrjb11 said...

This story seems a miracle to me. It is a miracle that a child can take six shots in various places and survive. Additionally, it is surprising that a seven year old child would have the mindset to realize that she had the opportunity to sacrifice her life in order to save her mother's. The final aspect of the story that surprised me was that the mother did not move her child out of the way and allowed her daughter to take the pain. However, despite these factors, I would take bullets shot at me to save my mother or a loved one anytime. It is a topic that depends on cirmcumstances such as who it is that you would sacrifice yourself for and if you loved this perseon. I would not be able to live my life replaying the image of my mother being murdered or knowing I somewhat had control over my mother's fate. However, as a seven year old child, my initial mindset would most likely be to run away or call the police, which makes me envy this particular child.

gchabrier said...

There is no doubt in my mind that I would take one, two, or six bullets for my mother or father. I do not think that Alexis' actions were an act of her being naive to the consequences of a bullet to a body. She make the conscious decesion to jump in front of her mother when the mother's boyfriend was shooting at her, if she did not know what would happen to her if she got shot she would not have jumped in front of her mother. This story reminds me of the scene in the movie "Crash" where the little girl runs in front of her father convinced she can save him. I think that at that age you are so infatuated by your parents that you would do absolutely anything for them. What sticks out to me most about this story is that the shooter continued to shoot at the girl several times when he blatantly knew that he was now not shooting at her mother-that is absolutely terrifying to me.

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