His hair is wild.
His teeth are jacked up.
He swears.
He’s vulgar.
He can be argumentative.
The man is not polished, but I say none of that matters.
The straight-talking, McDonald-loving Cleveland dishwasher acted quickly and decisive after hearing a woman trying to escape from a home on Cleveland’s west side.
Police say Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight had been held captive in the house for at least nine years.
The trio disappeared separately.
Ramsey and his Spanish speaking neighbor Angel Cordero helped kidnapping victim Berry and her young daughter. The other two young women were freed soon after.
Cordero and Ramsey’s version of how Berry and her daughter were freed differ — Cordero says he, not Ramsey actually kicked down the door to rape and kidnapping suspect Ariel Castro’s home — but it is clear that both contributed in some way.
While critics will be critics and reporters should dig, Ramseys imperfections can’t possibly cover his good deeds and are irrelevant.
He did not ignore a call for help when he thought a woman was being victimized in a domestic violence “situation.”
Ramsey reminds me of my relatives who mostly live on Cleveland’s east side and not far from Lake Erie.
They swear, they drink and more than a few have checkered histories.
Like Ramsey, they are a complicated bunch. They are human.
And like Ramsey they should be judged as human.
Humans can have wart, but humans can also be heroes.
Ramsey, despite all of his warts, was definitely a hero when he, by simply not turning the other way, helped bring three daughters and a grand child home to their families.
A man accused of despicable deeds is now off the streets.
Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight sure don’t think it matters that he’s rough around the edges.
Their cries of joy caught by dispatchers and police say it all.
The joy expressed by Cleveland and the world when the three woman were freed from a man who has been described as a monster has been amazing.
Charles Ramsey and Angel Cordero will eventually fade out of the national consciousness like so many other “heroes.”
It would be nice if we as a nation could learned from what the pair did.
They did the right thing despite being human.
What do you think?
Contact this columnist at arobinson@DaytonDailyNews.com or Twitter.com/DDNSmartMouth
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