As a pastor he was no doubt partly inspired by the biblical story of the Good Samaritan. But we suspect that the Right Reverend Professor Dr Randolph Henry may well have heard on occasion from well-meaning people that he acted unwisely when he stopped on Red Hills Road, St Andrew, late one night in 2019 to help keep a gunshot victim alive until the police came.

It was after 11:00 pm and the man was lying on the side of the road in what Jamaicans are well aware is among the planet’s more crime-prone cities.

Many among us would have done as Dr Henry did and promptly call the police.

However, we believe we speak true in saying few would have gone further, to actually stop and care for the injured man, striving to keep him alert until law officers came 30 minutes later.

Our reporter tells us that, according to Dr Henry, concern about his own safety was not in his thoughts at the time. That’s because of his belief in God, and that he was “trying to help somebody”.

Crucially, Dr Henry is reported as saying: “I couldn’t just go home [and leave the injured man there on his own], that would’ve been on my conscience…”

And what of 35-year-old resident of Castleton, St Mary, Ms Tamara Ivy, who rescued a three-year-old boy who was in danger of being washed away in the swollen Castleton River?

“… As I went into my house I saw the little baby washing away down the river so I run to save him,” Ms Ivy tells us.

Thankfully, she bucked the seemingly fashionable, nowadays trend that could have seen her grabbing a smartphone and running to take moving pictures of yet another tragedy for instant circulation to the global stage.

We are told that the thought that she would gain national recognition for saving the child’s life never entered her mind.

Ms Ivy and Dr Henry are among those who think of others before self.

Those two are part of a large group of noble Jamaicans being officially honoured today, National Heroes Day, for their service to neighbours, community, and country.

Yet, as we all should be well aware, many people are unsung heroes — very comfortable in anonymity. They will not be personally honoured today and very probably will never be at any official level.

Consider our educators who give their entire lives to children — such as Burnt Savannah, St Elizabeth, resident Ms Eileen Braham, now 73 years old, who as a very young, untrained person back in 1969, started teaching pre-school children to read and write.

Today her humble basic school — which at one time was accommodated on her mother’s verandah and subsequently in a vacated grocery shop — has evolved to the fully-staffed, State-recognised Burnt Savannah Early Childhood Institution with a population of 86 children.

Asked whether she is thinking of retiring, Ms Braham says: “As long as I am available and can move about I will try to help young children, because they are the future…”

That’s the stuff of which our heroic nation-builders are made. Ours would be such a better country in which to live, work, and raise families if more of us could find it within us to put others first.