They may not be able to fly and with the possible exception of the transients who lifted a two-tonne car off of a nine-year-old girl, may not be able to display super-human strength. All these people have, however, demonstrated feats of extraordinary courage, selflessness or honesty and kindness towards fellow human beings and all of them can be called heroes. None of them fit the stereotypical image commonly associated with homeless people.
In December of last year, John Beauchamp, 61, a resident of The Homeless Voice Shelter in Hollywood saw what he at first thought was a dead body floating in the canal while out selling copies of The Miami Herald in the street. When he noticed the woman turn and gasp for air he sprang into action to rescue the woman in distress. Stripped to his underwear, he waded in but the water was sufficiently deep that it was necessary to swim out to save her. Grasping the mentally-ill wife and mother by the arm, Beauchamp was able to drag her ashore where she was tended to by paramedics.
Andre Nash, 45, dubbed 'Supertramp' became an unexpected hero in February of this year when, using a beer-soked rag as a mask, he forced his way into a Brooklyn apartment which was ablaze. Nash, who is known to regularly spend the nights on park benches pushed his way through thick, choking smoke to reach the burning appartment and lead Terence Naylor and his two school-age sons out to safety.
North Las Vegas, November 2006, Stanford Washburn and a handful of other homeless men lifted a two tonne Cadillac off a little girl who was pinned beneath it. The New Mexico man who helped save 9-year-old Robyn Rubio’s life is not only tearful, but humble when he talks about his act of bravery. He had been drinking in an alley near the Las Vegas strip in Nevada when he saw the Cadillac hit Robyn head-on. Washburn and several other transients jumped up and ran to help, miraculously lifting the 5,000 pound car off of Robin’s tiny body.
When Portland police officer, Matt Tobey, got into difficulty, only homeless Clinton Whitman came to help. Tobey's head hit the ground again and again as the man on top of him, swearing and grunting, kept hitting him. Whitman, 53, described by Tobey as 'a blessing' and who had been living in a 1977 Lincoln Versailles, parked in a lot, stepped in and pulled the perpetrator from the officer. Tobey believes he owes his life to Whitman who was awarded with a Citizen Medal for Heroism in May 2006.
(there are more)http://thehobodays.blogspot.com/2008/08/real-life-hancocks-homeless-heroes.html
How many of the people who shun and deride the homeless would have done any of these things? They are human beings, and few see them and most hope they fade away.
O8) 
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