American Currents First Annual Newsmaker of the Year: The American People - Nikki Lorenzini

We are pleased to announce the first annual American Currents Newsmaker of the Year.  This year, we have chosen a group as opposed to an individual. The Newsmakers of the Year are the American People. They were not chosen for their trials and tribulations during the Great Recession, or for struggling with unemployment.  Instead, we found ordinary Americans going out of their way to help one another. And for that, we honor them. 

 For the past week, I was trying to think back on 2010 to see if there was any person or people that were the biggest news makers for me. Mark Zuckerberg didn't really impress me. I have been using Facebook for 5 + years, so there was nothing new there. Obama is doing his job, Tiger Woods actually admitted he had his affairs, lost his wife, and tried to come back to golfing. Mel Gibson has just about lost it, and Avatar scored big. There were fires, floods, and an oil spill. I could easily say the people who went in to help those victims are influential, but I'm not choosing them because we can always assume that there will be people there to help in major times of need.

I will be going with the news makers who never made major news. These are the people who were the most influential to me: the citizens who do more than what they are called to do.

Last month, I went to a township meeting for the town I live in. The local grocery store got an award for helping out the township with all of their functions, and donating the things that were needed during city sponsored events. The store also contributed to a fund to aide the families of fallen police officers. Then there was a gentlemen who got an award for saving a girl's life who was suicidal and was going to jump off of a local bridge into a creek. I ended up talking with him later that night, and he was saying how he had two small children waiting for him at home to be taken to school. He had brought the young woman into his car and insisted that he take her somewhere, since she refused to go with the police. Another man was honored for helping catch a man who had robbed a local jewelry store.

I am sure that there are plenty of people in the country that are like the above mentioned. They help aid the police and other emergency response teams. I am sure that when the average citizen wakes up in the morning, they only expect to go on their normal routine or the day that they had planned. No one expects to be diverted, especially when their is a life or death situation that might need immediate attention. In fact, who is that attentive while they are driving to spot a girl contemplating jumping off of a bridge? Or who leaps into action to help stop a robber? I am sure we never expect to be put in those type of situations. That is why my news makers of 2010 are the heroic and brave citizens who jump into action in the moment when they are not expecting to do so.