Everywhere in the world,
we can observe
and be touched
by acts of kindness.
People from all walks of
life, faiths, and cultures
extend themselves
beyond the call of duty
to help others
unconditionally.
Through their noble deeds,
humanity as a whole
is elevated.
To commend
virtuous actions and
encourage more people
to be inspired
by their examples,
Supreme Master
Ching Hai
has lovingly created
a series of awards,
including the Shining
World Leadership
Award, Shining World
Compassion Award,
Shining World Hero and
Heroine Awards, Shining
World Honesty Award,
Shining World Protection
Award, Shining World
Intelligence Award,
and Shining World
Inventor Award,
to recognize some
of the most exemplary,
generous, caring,
and courageous people
who walk amongst us.
June 1, 2009 was
an ordinary, idyllic day
at Mordialloc Creek
located near Melbourne,
Australia.
The water was still
and the sky was clear.
Out of the blue,
Mr. David Thomson,
owner of Bluey’s
Boathouse, a boat for
hire business, heard
an oddly loud splash
in the water.
It was a really, really
loud noise.
I looked up and could see
this big wave sort of
coming up the creek
from this big loud thing
where it had fallen in.
It’s a protected inlet
so it's always flat.
So when something goes
weird, you know that
something is wrong.
What incredible event
had just occurred
that disturbed
such a peaceful inlet?
There was some work
being done on the creek
down here and
the river inlet and a guy
was on an excavator
on a floating platform,
and something happened
with the excavator,
it tipped over and
the excavator fell into
the river and he was
trapped underneath
the excavator.
The worker, named John,
had fallen overboard
along with the heavy
machinery which
weighed between
20 to 30 tons.
It's like a big crane
and upside down.
It was already sunk
to the bottom,
but it was settling and
getting deeper and deeper
and it was pretty scary.
His foot was caught.
He was caught
underwater and couldn’t
get up; he was drowning.
John was pinned
in a precarious position.
As Mr. Thomson
described,
“A centimeter deeper and
he would have been dead,
a centimeter higher and
he would have been able
to breathe
without taking in water.”
While John’s co-worker
tried to operate the
machinery to release him,
Mr. Thomson dove
without hesitation
into the chilly waters
to try to help
the drowning stranger.
I was sort of half diving,
half going underneath him
and pushing him up
as hard as I could to
get his nose above water
but I could only
get his nose sort of above
water but not clear.
So he was unfortunately
drowning as
that was happening.
According to Mr. Thomson,
John was underwater for
between 8-10 minutes.
At this point,
Mr. Thomson felt
his efforts were
becoming futile as
the man could still not
stay above the water’s
surface and was ingesting
too much water.
He was a really brave guy.
Once he worked out
what I was trying to do,
every time I pushed him
up, he was trying to blow
water out, like a whale,
but his strength was
going pretty quickly
and so that was sort of
slowing down
as time went by.
He was just sinking
further and further down
and we were underwater.
In such a desperate
situation,
time is of the essence.
Fortunately, as this tragic
ordeal played out,
Mr. Thomson was able to
keep a level head in such
a stressful predicament.
I felt relatively calm, but
I felt a little bit helpless
because I could see that
he was losing strength
and we were sinking
deeper and deeper.
I was thinking of all these
different things that I
could do to get ourselves
out of that situation.
A crowd of people
had begun to gather at
the scene of the disaster,
but they could only
look on in shock as they
witnessed the struggles
of the drowning man and
Mr. Thomson’s attempts
to save him.
As John’s status was
weakening and becoming
evermore critical,
Mr. Thomson quickly
tried to get the attention
of passersby to call for
additional assistance.
While I was in the water,
I was yelling out
to people to call
emergency services and
where I'd dived into
the creek, my phone
was still on the side
on the grass there, so
I got a person to find
that phone to ring 000.
The emergency services
started coming, but we
didn’t have that time,
we'd already been
in the water a long time
at that stage.
But as the minutes
and seconds ticked away,
Mr. Thomson could see
the chances
for John’s survival
was getting slimmer.
When the guy was slowly
sort of sinking down, I
realized, I'm not going to
be able to get him above
the water because we
were sinking further in.
What will Mr. Thomson
do next?
How will John be rescued?
Stay tuned to
Supreme Master Television
as our program
continues with
the courageous efforts of
Mr. Thomson and
the presentation of his
Shining World Hero
Award from
Supreme Master Ching Hai.
Welcome to today’s
program featuring the
extraordinary bravery,
quick thinking
and selflessness of
Mr. David Thomson,
a Shining World Hero
Award recipient from
Supreme Master Ching Hai.
Mr. Thomson
was at the scene of
a construction accident
that occurred at
Mordialloc Creek
in Australia where
a 20 to 30 ton piece of
machinery had toppled
into the water and
pinned a worker named
John underwater.
Without delay,
Mr. Thomson jumped
into the icy waters
to offer aid.
Despite his best efforts
to keep John
above water level as
it lapped in and out of
his mouth,
Mr. Thomson could see
that he needed to an
alternate plan of action.
I was just going through
my head all the things
I've got at the Boat Hire,
such as funnels and tubes
and things and
yelling out at people to
get those things
and eventually
we came up with
a vacuum cleaner hose
which I was able to use.
Although under stress,
Mr. Thomson relied on
his instincts to quickly
fashion the hose into
a life-saving device.
I put my hand over
the end of the vacuum
cleaner hose and
inserted it under water
and put that into
his mouth and then tried
to hold his jaw around,
but his jaw was fairly
loose so then I decided to
just start to blowing
as much air in as I could.
He was fighting
but his strength had gone
and he turned blue.
Even at this late stage,
Mr. Thomson did not
give up on John.
His determination is
truly admirable.
He continued to struggle
to free John from
the heavy excavator
and his perseverance
proved fruitful.
As he went under
for the last time,
I was able to get him free
eventually.
I had to start thinking
about how to do CPR
and all the things
you’ve got to do.
As I pulled him
eventually up,
the emergency services
arrived on the scene
and took over from me
to get him to recover.
Afterwards, Mr. Thomson
discovered another
miraculous factor that
was in John’s favor.
In his recounting this fact,
Mr. Thomson reveals
his humble nature
in not taking credit for
saving the life of John.
Where he was trapped,
his boot was strapped
upside down
in the excavator, and
when he had gone under
for the last time,
his foot slipped out
his pair of boots, but
they were one of those
slide-on pair of boots and
he'd only just got them.
Up till then, he always
had big lace-up boots,
and if that was the case,
he wouldn’t have
gotten out.
So he was a lucky man
whoever bought
the boots.
For his altruistic spirit,
noble heart and
courageous actions
to save another life,
Supreme Master Ching Hai
recognized
Mr. Thompson with
the Shining World
Hero Award.
She wrote a personal
letter to be presented to
Mr. Thomson
along with the beautiful
crystal plaque.
Dear Mr. Thomson,
It is with the greatest
pleasure and gratitude
that we present to you
the “Shining World
Hero Award.”
This Award is presented
in recognition of
your outstanding bravery
in the face of danger,
your life-saving act of
selfless assistance and
your kind-hearted spirit
of service to others
blessing our world
with a shining example
of nobility, courage
and love…
On hearing of
your wonderful act of
compassion and initiative,
we are reminded of
Australia’s great
tradition of mateship, the
legendary Anzac spirit
and the long entrenched
culture of helping out
a neighbor in need.
You bring to life these
noble qualities in a way
that helps make
our community so much
more warmly connected,
supportive and
life-enhancing.
Inspired by your loving
example, we can all
be heroes to each other.
Thank you so much,
David, for making
a positive difference
in our world!
For compassionately
coming to the aid of those
in need, for your
decisive judgement
and cool response
under pressure,
and for being a gallant
and noble role model,
we hereby applaud
and celebrate
the brave-hearted deeds
of our mate,
Mr. David Thomson,
fair dinkum Aussie hero.
With Great Honour, Love
and Blessings,
Supreme Master Ching Hai
I appreciate that.
That’s lovely. Thank you.
I wasn’t expecting that.
Thank you.
In addition, Mr. Thomson
received gifts
on behalf of
Supreme Master Ching Hai
as well as a custom-made
Hero jacket.
It’s very well made,
isn’t it?
It even fits beautifully.
Oh that’s beautiful.
That’s really nice.
Now I'm warm
so thank you,
thank you very much.
I greatly appreciate it.
At the conclusion of the
presentation ceremony,
Mr. Thomson
wished to express
his gratitude to
Supreme Master Ching Hai.
I greatly appreciate it.
To Supreme Master
Ching Hai,
I haven’t met you but
thank you very much.
I really, really
appreciate it. Thank you!
We salute you,
Mr. Thomson, for your
swift and selfless actions
in the face of
great adversity
which helped saved
a precious human life.
Heaven’s blessings for
your abundant health
and lasting happiness.
Thank you,
benevolent viewers,
for your company today.
Please keep your dial
tuned to
Supreme Master Television
for Words of Wisdom,
up next
after Noteworthy News.
May your days be filled
with inner bliss, peace
and blessings.
From physics to alchemy,
Dr. Theresa Ibis explores
the fundamental rules
of life and the Universe
and reveals
esoteric knowledge
out of her passion
to benefit people in
all aspects of their lives.
Ultimately, I think
the goal would be
to spiritualize matter,
to bring our material world
into a more
elevated state,
create Heaven on Earth,
for example.
Find out more about
her exciting work
on Part 1 of
“Indigo Bridge In Service:
Dr. Theresa Ibis”
Monday, January 4, on
Science and Spirituality.