Manly Men

Women Who Survived Theater Shooting Grieve for Hero Boyfriends – ABC News

“Of the 12 people killed in the Aurora theater shooting, four of them were men who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect their girlfriends. Now, each of these women are struggling to come to terms with both their grief and their gratitude.”

I appreciate ABC News running this story. But I wish they had resisted the urge to drag in “experts” to try to “explain” what is in reality the best that’s in us. In my opinion, all they succeeded in doing with these experts was to devalue these heroes and their sacrifice.

I think the reason why thirty percent of the people who died in Denver were men who gave their lives to protect their women is both simple and obvious: It is how God made them.

If I had to find one story that capsulizes why I think God made men strong, this would be it.

Heroism is not limited to people with Y chromosomes. This story also details women who endangered their lives to protect another person. It is a fool’s errand to come between a woman and her child.

But this willingness of men to die protecting women and children is, in my opinion, God-given. Without it, the human race could never have survived, will not survive now. God made men strong, wired them to respond to physical danger quickly, for a reason. Women are the life-givers. Men are the life-protectors.

All my life I knew that either one of my parents would die or kill to save me. It was a given, like the sun coming up in the morning. I felt the same “I will die for you” strength welling up in me when I was pregnant with my first baby. It has never left me.

But there is a substantive difference with fathers. I knew my mother would kill or die to save me, but it was my Daddy, with his big shoulders and loud voice, who made me feel safe. It is my husband who makes me feel safe now.

Men have a degree of competence in times of physical danger that is innate to their being. Aberrated men use this competence and the physical strength that accompanies it to terrify and destroy. Manly men use it to protect their women and children. They create a line of safety around their families that allows home to become a refuge which nourishes and sustains the people within it.

Amanda Lindgren, whose boyfriend, Alexander Teves, gave his life to protect her, describes it well in the account below.

I’ve blocked the name of the individual who committed this crime. It shouldn’t be in the same story with the name of this good man.

“Of the 12 people killed in the Aurora theater shooting, four of them were men who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect their girlfriends. Now, each of these women are struggling to come to terms with both their grief and their gratitude.

“Alexander Teves, 24, attended the midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” with his girlfriend Amanda Lindgren , 24, and another friend. 

“When ???? opened fire in the sold out theater, Teves immediately lunged to block Lindgren from the gunfire.

“I was really, really confused at first about what was going on, so confused,” Lindgren told ABC News. “But, it’s like Alex didn’t even hesitate. Because I sat there for a minute, not knowing what was going on, and he held me down and he covered my head and he said, ‘Shh. Stay down. It’s ok. Shh just stay down.’ So I did.”

Teves blocked the bullets from Lindgren but he was shot and killed. She was not hit.”