My inbox had some very touching stories about Charles Poland. You know, the guy who stood up to the kidnapper and blocked his way on the bus so 21 other kids could escape out the back. The guy that took 4 bullets protecting "his kids" on the bus with his very life.
At Charles' funeral kids that rode his bus read letters to his family:
"Courtney H wrote: ‘To the best hero in the world.
‘You didn’t deserve to die but you died knowing that you kept everyone safe.
‘Being on your bus was the best time of my life. Since you’ve been the nicest person Ill be the same way.’
She added: ‘I’ll miss you forever.’
In another, Courtney B recalled: ‘He’d bring bottles of water on hot
summer days and before holiday breaks he’d bring us cookies.’
These and other fulsome tributes were made in front of Mr Poland’s family –
his widow Mary-Janice supported by her daughter Lydia and son Aaron."
The shocking thing is that it appears that Charles brough food to, and visited his killer the morning of the shooting:
After finishing his morning route, the 66-year old driver returned to Dykes's home, bringing him a basket of eggs and jam.
Hours later Dykes repaid that act with shocking violence.
Rev Ray Layton said: ‘I believe it was Tuesday morning that Brother Chuck went and saw this man.
‘He took him some eggs and jam.
‘He loved him when not many others did not.’
Ron Hutchcraft had a very touching story based on Charles today, he said:
...There was talk at the Super Bowl of "heroes" in the game. But the real hero this week was a man who drove a school bus.
His daughter said that he always considered his young passengers as "his kids." Yes, he did. He put himself between them and the danger.
I can't watch that story without two things happening. My heart is moved. And I think about Jesus. So did people at his funeral this weekend. One fellow bus driver said, "What Chuck did was the same thing Jesus Christ did. He laid down his life to defend those schoolchildren."
Those words are right out of the Bible. "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us" (1 John 4:16).
So as the media will most likely focus on the killer and the gun, let's not forget the hero in this story.