Leaders Hold The Nail

A friend of mine told me the following true story:

It was November 20, 1937. Frankie knew he was in trouble. The brakes on the coal car were failing, and it would only be moments before it crashed into the car ahead. Two men, unaware of the runaway car, were cleaning out the remains of the coal from the last load. Death was imminent.

           Frankie jumped from the runaway car and raced ahead to warn his friends. As impact neared, he jumped back into coal car and gave a last desperate yank on the brake wheel. Frankie was hurled forward and out the left side of the car. He grabbed for a hold with his right arm and the left side of his body slid under the wheels, severing his left leg immediately and crushing his left arm between the wheel and the track.

           Frankie was in and out of the hospital over the next six months. His left leg was missing, and his left arm was gone from below his elbow. He learned to walk with the aid of a crutch. His wife, Margaret, says he never complained about his condition. He was later awarded the Carnegie Medal for the heroism he displayed in saving the lives of his friends.

           One day, after Frankie had passed away, Margaret was talking to her grandchildren about their grandfather. They were asking questions about how he would get around, and how we would garden and work.

           “Oh, he just seemed to do it”, she answered.

           “The hardest thing,” she continued, “Was when he carpentered. I’d have to hold the nails for him, and he’d swing the hammer.”

(Can you picture this? I don’t like swinging a hammer at my own fingers, let alone someone else taking the swing).

Frankie was a hero. He saved the lives of two men.

Margaret was a hero, too. She held the nail.

You are heroic. It comes in many forms. At work, you often swing the hammer. But for whom, among work or family or friends or neighbors, are you to hold a nail? You save a life that way too.