Cook: What's the frequency, Chattanooga?

photo David Cook

For Luther

Life broadcasts so many stories of compassion and community. When we learn to listen, we find the frequency is never out of range.

"We pulled up on the scene. The whole structure was on fire," said Lt. Alex Cole.

It was August. The duplex on Daisy Street was burning. Chattanooga firefighters arrived, and then Cole and Capt. Ashley May did what's commonplace to them, and heroic to the rest of us.

They ran into the fire.

"We found ... a male victim lying unresponsive between the toilet and shower," said Cole.

They carried him outside to other firefighters and medics, past the reach of the smoke and flames.

"They did what they did to keep him alive," Cole said. "I want to make sure those guys get recognized."

They will. Today, the Hamilton Place Rotary Club will name Cole and May -- and, by extension, the other firefighters from Station 5 and 10 -- our city's "Firefighters of the Year" at its annual luncheon.

I asked May if risking your life for others was a natural behavior, something inherent in human nature.

"I believe it is," he said. "Given the circumstance, I think anybody would have done this."

That's because we're wired for one another. Compassion is the rule, not the exception.

Like firefighters, we each receive training. Our teachers come in all shapes and sizes -- Washington, media, music, church, schools and dinner tables, all teaching us to rush toward one another or away. We are trained and taught one of two lessons:

• 1. We are strangers to one another.

• 2. We are family to one another.

Isn't this the lesson of Ebola? That even the smallest of these -- Patient Zero, a child in one of the forgotten places on Earth -- is somehow connected to the rest of us? That even the least and meekest of these has global power?

Remembering this seems to be the big lesson of the 21st century. If any common thread runs through the conflicts of today and tomorrow, it is this: thy neighbor is thyself.

Why else would Cole and May rush into the fire?

"I believe that human nature is: I'm going to try and help this guy," May said.

Exploring human nature -- our compassion and connectivity -- is the work of many thinkers and academics of today.

There has never been a more prominent time for the science and politics of empathy.

Welcome to TEDxUTChattanooga.

This Saturday, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga hosts our region's first series of TED Talks. (For schedule and info: tedxutchattanooga.com)

The call for speakers went out months ago. Organizers got great response. They selected a dozen speakers from diverse backgrounds.

Notice the common theme.

Robert Fisher, a UTC grad and 2014 Truman Scholar, will speak on the crossroads our city faces -- "Equity or Optics?" -- between being a city of appearance and a city of actual equality.

"What if we committed ourselves to being the City of Equity?" he asked.

In what may be the most fascinating public talk of the year, Dr. Lyn Miles will present the story of her relationship to the very special foster son.

Chantek, an orangutan.

"He can communicate with signs, make up his own words and even tell lies," she said. "He is sentient, autonomous, self aware, emotionally complex and incredibly smart."

Miles, a professor of anthropology, believes that animals are "persons of the nonhuman kind," and has dedicated her life to understanding and defending great apes.

"Meet Chantek, the first orangutan person," she said.

Lesley Scearce of On Point will speak on engaging our city's youth, and James Chapman will present on creating cultures of selflessness. Marcus Ellsworth will talk on activism in art, Dr. Hill Craddock on the unvanquished chestnut tree, Victoria Bryan on for-credit college opportunities for prisoners, and Kevin Bate on the beautification of the city.

Thread them all together and you find stories and voices of this emerging shift from the Big Me of the 20th century toward the Big Us of the 21st.

The fire and static are not the whole story.

Contact David Cook at dcook@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6329. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter at DavidCookTFP.

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