The American media doesn't seem to be carrying this but it bears reposting... from the Korea Times:
Australian teen gives up life for brother
An Australian teenager who insisted rescuers save his younger brother first died with his mother when they were swept away by flood waters, the UPI reported Thursday in Toowoomba, Australia.
Donna Rice, 43, and her sons, Jordan, 13, and Blake, 10, were trapped in their car Monday by a flash flood in Toowoomba, about 80 miles west of Brisbane, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Warren McErlean found the family standing on the roof of the car.
Jordan told him to take Blake first, McErlean said later. He was able to get Blake to safety, although it was a near thing, but the water pulled Rice and Jordan away as they tried to hold on to a tree.
John Tyson, Rice's longtime partner and the boys' father, said Jordan was afraid of the water.
"I can only imagine the fear coursing through his body," Tyson said.
We teach our sons that it is their responsibility to defend those smaller than they are and for older brothers to look after younger brothers, but this story is just beautiful. I often remind my own thirteen year old that in some cultures and times he'd be responsible for holding a job, earning his own living. And I often lament that western teens are too cihldish, too bound up in toys and worthless plastic lives. So to see a teen boy from a country very much like our own have the heart to play the man when his own life would be lost... its a worthwhile reminder that our teens are made of better stuff than we think.
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