Prageru.com shared the following story about the mass shooting at the Borderline Bar and Grill in Southern California on November 7, 2018 as a tale of self-sacrificial men and masculinity.

Lost in the carnage is a lesson that has little to do with the monster who took lives and everything to do with the men who saved lives. The killer was 28 years old, lost, lonely, and living with mom. He knew that on Wednesdays—college country night—the place would be packed with kids laughing and dancing. He entered tossing smoke grenades, then unloaded his handgun—fitted with an illegal extended magazine—into the crowd.

But there were other young men there, too. One of them was 20-year-old Matt Wennerstrom. In interviews, Matt looks like a typical college student—backward baseball cap, gray T-shirt, jaw scruffy with a few days’ growth. As soon as he heard the shots, he knew “exactly what was going on.” He and some friends grabbed everyone they could and pushed them down behind the pool table, placing their own bodies on top of the girls. One woman, who was celebrating her 21st birthday, said: “There were multiple men who got on their knees and pretty much blocked all of us with their back toward the shooter, ready to take a bullet for every single one of us.”

When the shooter paused to reload, Wennerstrom grabbed a bar stool and tossed it through a window. He and his buddies pulled 30 to 35 people to safety. After getting each group safely to the parking lot, he and his buddies went back for more. A reporter asked how he knew immediately what was going on in the loud, crowded bar. He said, “Instinct, I guess. I’m here to protect my friends, my family, my fellow humans, and I know where I’m going if I die, so I was not worried to sacrifice. All I wanted to do is get as many people out of there as possible.”

Source:

Abigail Shrier, “The Borderline Bar and Grill: A Tale of Men and Masculinity” Prageru.Com (11-4-19)