Marines.Together We Served

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Doing the Right Thing

             Ever heard of Temar Boggs? Chris Garcia? How about Jocelyn Rojas?

I had to get this story from a British publication website, The Daily Mail. My daughter, Laura, told me about this heart-warming account of two teenaged boys doing the right thing.

On Thursday, July 18, five-year-old Jocelyn Rojas was playing in the front yard of her grandmother’s home in Lancaster Township, Pennsylvania. A man between the ages of 50-70 apparently snatched the girl from the yard and tossed her into a van he was driving. The child went missing for about two hours.

Temar Boggs, 15 years old, and his pal were riding their bikes when they saw the little girl in the van. Neither of the boys knew Jocelyn or her family. Their desire was to help the police and do the right thing. Thinking fast, the two boys gave chase, keeping an eye on the van as it was weaving in and out of traffic. After 15 minutes of tailing the van, the driver decided he didn’t like being followed by these boys, so he stopped the van long enough to push the little girl out before speeding off. Jocelyn immediately ran into Temar’s arms, telling him, “I need to see my mommy.” Temar had the good sense to take Jocelyn to the police station where she was quickly reunited with her family.

You may have already guessed that Temar is black, and that Chris is Hispanic. What were these boys doing when they heard the police report about a little girl having been abducted? They were helping an elderly lady move a couch! Wasn’t it potentially dangerous for them to follow this van? Might the driver have had a gun, or used the van to run into the boys? Yes on all counts.

Later on, Temar was being interviewed by the local news. This is what he said about the incident. "They [referring to Jocelyn’s family] were just saying that I was a hero, that I was a guardian angel, and that it was amazing that I was there and was able to find the girl," said Temar. "I'm just a normal person who did a thing that anybody else would do."

Well, Temar, whether or not anybody else would have done what you and Chris did, we’ll never know. The point is: you did the right thing at the right time. This little girl’s life was in serious danger. She was most likely facing a certain death after whatever abusive horrors might have been forced upon her; or she may have become a captive in this man’s home; or she may have been sold to the world-wide sex-slave industry.

The boys, Temar and Chris, saw the police and volunteers combing the neighborhood, knocking on doors, trying to locate little Jocelyn. Temar decided he had to do something. "We got all of our friends to go look for her. We made our own little search party," Boggs told reporters.

Today, less than a week after this abduction was foiled by these high school boys, Jocelyn is safely back with her family because two young men placed the value of one 5-year-old little girl above themselves.

The Bible says to consider others more important than yourself. That’s what Temar and Chris did. They even demonstrated the scriptural teaching of Jesus when he said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." That's what Temar and Chris were willing to do. On top of that, Temar said it was a blessing to be involved in rescuing Jocelyn. “I wasn’t scared, I was just [thinking], ‘Save the little girl; make sure she was okay.’”

Because of their decisive action which lead to the rescue of little Jocelyn, a fund has been set up where contributions may be made to assist these young men in obtaining a college degree. If you would like to help, please go to https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/reward-the-heroes-scholarship-fund-temar-boggs-and-chris-garcia/contributions/new.  

Wouldn’t you like to see this story and others like it on the front page above the fold of your local newspaper? So would I.

God bless you Temar and Chris. And thanks for your courageous action.

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