Tom Lee: A Very Worthy Hero

Performed by Sebastian Carson and accompanied by Damien Pierson on the 94th anniversary of Tom Lee’s rescue of 32 lives on the Mississippi River. Tom Lee Park is named after the Memphis hero.

“Though the Mississippi was both muddy and mighty, what occurred wasn’t magic. It was the magnitude of said hero that saw lives, no matter how different from his, as meaningful. It was the mission of a man whom deemed himself doing what any sensible person would do that magnified the magnificence of our humanity in a manner that was beyond marvelous. Tell Marvel, it left out a character in its sequel. A hero that was equipped with nothing but a heart big enough to see past the barriers that stood between him and the lives he could save. A hero that couldn’t swim, in a 28-inch boat that couldn’t seat more than a few people, during a time that the survivors couldn’t fully see his humanity, he never focused on that which he couldn’t. You see, Tom Lee reminds us of the hero in every common man. Helps us understand why we, as Memphians, never let the Goliath intimidate us into believing there’s nothing we can do. 32 lives were saved in the Mississippi River on a day in which it was both muddy and mighty. In a 28-inch boat with a small motor and a big heart. Row, row, rowing his boat against a stream that wasn’t gentle, nor merrily. This moment was monumental for Memphis. Allowing the ability to take the lenses of racial tensions to see someone drowning, mounting the courage of sacrifice to move mountains, reminding each of us of what it takes to be a hero. On May 8th, Memphis got a glimpse of what it means to be both common yet heroic. To be both poor yet rich. To be both minuscule and tough. To have both everything and yet what others would call not enough. You see there’s a Tom Lee in each and every one of us. It’s the perseverance and underdog spirit of those in the Bluff, that seems to breed heroes to fearlessly take on times that are rough.

What does it take to be a hero? Tom Lee showed us, that all we have to do is recognize that all we have, is enough to save those that are drowning.”