Ginger Littleton Is My Hero

Ginger Littleton was until yesterday, a nobody. She sat on a school board in Panama City, Fla., attending to local business. She probably never in her life faced anyone as threatening as she did yesterday. A gunman burst into a meeting where she was participating and brandished a gun at the board, ordering all the women to leave the room. Ginger knew this would not end well.

Conviction spoke to her as she walked out a side door. She quickly pondered what might happen to her fellow board members. She could walk away to safety or try to do something that would at least make a difference. She re-entered the room where the gunman’s back was to her and hit his arm with her purse, trying in vain to disarm him. Not a very well thought out strategy. But she never faced such desperate situations before. In that moment of action, she was not thinking of herself. She was thinking of her colleagues.  Her act was selfless. Sacrificial. Yet the gunman didn’t kill her. Thank God. Moments later the gunman shot at the remaining board members and missed every one from point blank range. He was then shot and wounded by a security officer before taking his own life. No one on the school board was hurt. The superintendent, Bill Husfelt knew God protected him.

Ginger is obviously not the type of person to walk away from a fight. Even in a dangerous situation of which she had no training. Training would have told her to flee. But as she put it, “I’m not very good at taking orders from people.”

Courage manifests itself where decent people listen to their convictions and take action. I believe courage has its roots in love. And love lays down its life for someone else. Not always literally, but in some form of action. Ginger Littleton is my everyday hero. I won’t forget her name. Her inspiration gives me hope in America.