Badass of the Week: Anderson Cooper

A new feature here on R#09, Badass of the Week allows me to select one person who, through words or actions, has done something really cool and instilled themselves, in my mind, as a true badass. We kick off this week (Jan. 18 - Jan. 24) with our first Badass of the Week, Anderson Cooper.

Yesterday, Anderson Cooper reiterated to me something very important that too many U.S. journalists forego nowadays in favor of ratings — humanity. Cooper and his crew, who have been in Haiti covering the disaster relief and rescue operations in the wake of the devastating earthquake there, found themselves amidst a violent outbreak of looting yesterday, and Cooper jumped in to save a young boy who had been struck in the head with a block of concrete.

From Cooper's blog:

I saw him collapse. More chunks of concrete were being thrown at the looters on the roof. The injured boy couldn't get up. He'd try and then collapse again. Blood was pouring from his head. He was conscious but had no control over his body. I was afraid someone on the roof would see him lying there and throw another cinder block piece onto him. I was afraid he'd get killed. No one seemed to be helping him.

I ran to where he was struggling, and picked him up off the ground. I brought him to a spot about a hundred feet away. I could feel his warm blood on my arms. I stood him up, but he was clearly unable to walk. He wiped his bloody face, and I tried to reassure him. He had no idea where he was, and he clearly couldn't walk, so I picked him up again and handed him over to someone behind that makeshift barricade. Tony, the American businessman, gave the boy a wet towel. He was then taken away by someone else. We don't know what happened to him.

I hope he's OK.

And that, Anderson Cooper, is why you're not only one of my favorite journalists working today, but also my pick for Badass of the Week. Keep up the good work over there.