How To Become Hero 101

We'd like to think that if a life-or-death situation landed at our feet, some magic adrenaline monster inside us would step forward to save the day. Like we'd turn into the Hulk, but without the greenness, anger, or shredded denim. The reality, of course, is that the vast, vast majority of people stand around and stare, muttering something about waiting for help to come along.

So let's once again stop and salute the nobodies who stepped up in the face of disaster when no one else would.

#6. A Homeless Drifter Saves the Life of a Newborn Baby at a Truck Stop

Marc Debnam/Digital Vision/Getty Images

The "Nobody"

Gary Wilson: mysterious drifter bound for Memphis. Truck stop vagrant or angel? You be the judge after you hear what he did.

The Heroism

Despite having two mannish names, Keaton Mason was a woman, and more pertinent to this story, a pregnant woman in labor. She was on her way to the hospital with her fiance when the baby decided a truck stop was just as good as a hospital to get born in (babies are pretty stupid). This particular baby came out in the usual way -- via stork exiting the vagina carrying a baby -- but she wasn't breathing, because theumbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. That's bad news anywhere, but at a truck stop, it's kind of the worst.

Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
If they'd just kept going to the next stop ...

Despite having just given birth to a new person, Mason had the strength and good sense to scream for help while her husband-to-be dialed 911. Surely among the worldly drivers and good time girls standing idly by there would be someone who knew what to do -- and there was. A long-haired, bearded man holding a sign that said "Memphis" came forward. The sign wasn't just a trendy suggestion for the new baby's name, it was Gary Wilson's hopeful destination.

Photos.com
"Coincidentally, I was going there for baby back ribs."

While everyone else was freaking the hell out, Wilson freed the cord from the girl's neck and began to rub her back. The first one seemed intuitive, but how did he know to rub her back to get her breathing? Magic? Was he Jesus? Eventually, Gary "Jesus" Wilson took over the 911 call and talked to the dispatcher directly, receiving directions on how to cut and tie off the umbilical cord and get the baby's college fund all set up. For his trouble, the truck stop gave Wilson a meal and a place to sleep. But he was gone by the next morning, taken back up to heaven. Or in the back of a pickup to Memphis, whatever.

Photos.com
Like Michael Landon, but with more hobo stink.

Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_20516_6-awesome-stories-bystanders-becoming-heroes.html#ixzz2YH9ry0T3