The celebration of a New Year is always a bittersweet experience. While we optimistically welcome with great hope the beginning of a new year, we must also bid farewell to the previous one and remember all the events that made it special. In the year 2010, there is so much worthy of remembrance, as proof of the American spirit — charity, heroics, kindness — was widely evident. As we apprehensively embark on the year 2011, fearful of the future of our great nation, it is best to recall those American moments so that we may maintain hope that the American people still have what it takes to preserve all that makes our country so exceptional.

• In January, for example, a Eugene, Oregon, man named Ben Bond fed money into expired parking meters for strangers as a meter maid began writing parking tickets. When the maid discovered what Bond was doing, he was arrested and later fined $810. Recounting the events with KEZI 9 News, Bond described his motivations on that fateful day: “Had a pocket full of change and decided nobody else needs to get a ticket on this street.” For those who were spared an expensive parking ticket, the seemingly small task was a rather grand gesture.

• David Benke of Littleton, Colorado, became a national hero on February 23, 2010. A math teacher at Deer Creek Middle School, Benke discovered a gunman taking shots at students with a hunting rifle as frightened teenagers ran for their lives. Benke, 57, immediately took action, tackling the 32-year-old gunman, Bruco Strongeagle Eastwood, and pinning him to the ground, saving the lives of countless students. Days later, a Facebook page was created, entitled “Dr. David Benke is a Hero!” The page acquired 25,000 messages, all of which honored Benke for the hero he truly is.

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