I read an article yesterday (written by a Cleveland native who doesn't smile) that condemned all writers, bloggers and television outlets for "exploiting" and getting all hyped up over the hilarity of Chuck Ramsey. If you have no idea who Chuck Ramsey is...it's this guy:
Chuck Ramsey is an unconventional American hero whose heroism is probably grossly underrated. Especially now that some stories are coming out from neighbors who saw some hinky stuff going on and didn't do anything about it. On Monday night, Charles Ramsey said he was sitting eating himself a McDonald's Big Mac when he heard a girl screaming "like a car had hit a kid." He said he ran outside and saw that the screams were coming from his neighbor's house. The girl (now identified as Amanda Berry) screamed at him "I've been trapped in here. He won't let me out. It's me and my baby."
So what did Chuck do? Why, he ran and kicked the door down, doncha know! Little did he know that this one act would bust open the chains that had been holding three women captive for nearly a decade. His 9-1-1 call was classic:
"Hey bro, check this out. I just came from McDonald's right? So I'm on my porch eating my little food, right? This broad is trying to break out the f-----g house next door to me, so there's a bunch of people on the street right now and s--t. So we're like, 'What's wrong, what's the problem?' She's like, 'This m--------r done kidnapped me and my daughter ... She said her name is Linda Berry or some s--t. I don't know who the f--k that is, I just moved over here, bro. You know what I mean?"
That was his 9-1-1 call, okay? He wasn't standing in front of a camera, he wasn't hamming it up for a sea of news reporters. He was just being Chuck. So when I start reading these articles slamming him for "trying to get rich with his ghetto self", I get more than pissed off. Because truth be told, would WE have done the same thing? Seriously. If you heard some crazy girl screaming, would you go and just kick the door in? I think we'd all like to think we would. But in all actuality we'd probably go make sure our doors were locked before we looked around the house for the cellphone so we could call 9-1-1.
The question is being asked, "How could this go unnoticed in such a densely populated area for this long?" I'll tell you how. We've been desensitized to humanity. We don't see the child next door who has bruises and isn't allowed to play with the other kids. We don't see the elderly couple drive away and only one of them come back. We don't go welcome newcomers to the neighborhood unless we already know them. We don't go check on our neighbor when we see their yard begin to grow up with weeds. We simply complain about the eyesore and curse the homeowner for being inconsiderate of our home value needs. What if someone had lost a spouse and become so overwhelmed with grief that their lawn became pointless? Or worse yet, what if our neighbor had passed away?
We only seem to notice things when they begin to negatively impact our personal lives. Chuck didn't HAVE to go outside and see what the screaming was all about. Chuck didn't HAVE to throw down his Big Mac and run up onto his neighbor's porch to engage the screamer in conversation. Chuck didn't HAVE to kick in a door or make that call to 9-1-1. But he did. I'd rather see THIS kind of American hero rather than one who plays professional sports and makes a billion dollars a year. It would behoove us all to be a little bit more like Chuck.
If you missed his initial interview, take the time to check it out.
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