They presented him with an award for saving three children. But when it was his turn to speak, Alexander Gómez didn’t talk about what he had done. He talked about what he couldn’t do.
“I wanted to save all four, but I could only save three.”
He is 13 years old. He is from Cedeño, in Choluteca, Honduras, and helps out on a boat that takes tourists on excursions. On Sunday, October 11, at El Edén beach, he saw four children struggling against the waves from the shore. He didn’t hesitate. He grabbed a life jacket and plunged into the sea.
According to his own account, all four clung to him because he was the only one wearing a life jacket. Only three were able to keep holding on to him. Anyelo Sebastián Castro, 13, who had traveled from Tegucigalpa with his father and friends from his neighborhood, couldn’t. Alexander said he only raised his hand.
Teachers and students at his school, Michel J. Hasbun, paid tribute to him. They read to him: “Thanks to your bravery, three children can hug their families today”. And they promised to hang his award in the principal’s office, so it could serve as an example to those who come after.
Three families welcomed their children back. And a 13-year-old boy, amid the applause, was thinking about the fourth.
Sometimes heroes aren’t measured by those they save, but by the ones they never stop carrying inside them.
