Although I have no kids of my own, I can imagine that parenting must be one of the most rewarding jobs on the planet. From embracing the unconditional love, to laughing at all the adorable things that their animated and mischievous selves have to say, it must be so rewarding to watch your child grow up into amazing people.
On the flipside, I’m pretty sure parenting must also be incredibly terrifying. Aside from the fact that parents are wholly responsible for molding and shaping their kids, they’ll always have to accept the fact that they are always at risk of all kinds of danger. There are factors totally out of the parents’ control that can affect how safe or otherwise their kids are. Sometimes, their fate is left entirely in someone else’s hands, and in these instances, there is very little they can do to shelter them from harm. When you’re a parent, you’re responsible for everything that happens to them, and unfortunately kids being the vulnerable little beings that they are, are exposed to a slew of sinister people with heinous intentions. However, just as there are evil people in the world, there are also people who will stop at nothing to ensure good prevails over evil. TJ Smith, an 11-year-old boy from Wichita Falls, Texas is an example of a heroic kid who prevented something terrible happening to a younger child in his neighborhood. In fact, Smith’s quick thinking helped save a seven-year-old girl escape an awful fate. It all began very innocently when Smith started playing outside his home on his own. However, it wasn’t long before a little girl riding a scooter, not far from where he was playing, was approached by a man whom Smith assumed she didn’t know. The man grabbed a hold of the little girl, and although Smith thought it was possible that the man was a relative of hers, he instinctively knew that something wasn’t quite right. “He picked her up and started walking,” Smith recalled. Smith may be very young, but he certainly isn’t naive so he decided he had to call for help. He ran to find the nearest adult that he knew, his neighbor Brad Ware, and told him what he had seen. Ware recalled to KFDX, that his young neighbor seemed desperate in his plea for help: “Brad, Brad, some guy just kidnapped this little girl.” As soon as Ware and his wife were made aware of the situation, they left the house and followed TJ to the scene of the incident. Ware is a father himself, and so was very alarmed at what had apparently happened on his street. Ware began to chase after the man, but then decided, he would be more likely to reach the girl in time if he drove after them. So, he and his wife jumped in their car and sped after the the apparent kidnapper while TJ continued running. Ware followed the strange man to a quiet alley which led to an empty house. When Ware arrived at the vacant home, he found TJ there waiting. “He pointed behind the house and said, ‘He went behind the house,’” Ware revealed. The man attempted to put the little girl through a window in the abandoned house, but as Ware recalls, “My wife yelled at him and told him to put the child down.” Although the man did indeed let the child go, he tried to flee the scene soon afterwards. However, Ware was able to tackle him to the ground and ensure that he couldn’t escape before police arrived. Police arrested the kidnapper and identified him as 26-year-old Raeshawn Perez. They charged the man with aggravated kidnapping, and discovered that he was a sexual predator who had been planning to abuse the seven-year-old. Everyone in Smith and Ware’s neighborhood, especially the girl’s parents, were immensely grateful that the two had gone to such lengths to prevent Perez from carrying out his vile plans. They were hailed as heroes and Smith even received an Honorary Police Member badge from the Wichita Falls Police Department, which he wore to school the next day. It just goes to show that we really should act on our first instincts. Smith couldn’t have known for sure that he had witnessed an attempted kidnapping, but he knew that if didn’t do anything, he might just regret it. Thank you to Smith and Ware for their incredibly selfless actions which will hopefully inspire others who find themselves in a position in which they witness something sinister take place.
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