There have been many articles published about the bravery of the young man who used his slingshot to protect his sister from an active kidnapping, but many of them focus on the brother and overshadow the work done by the little girl to stay safe.

What that boy did to assist in saving his sister was courageous and he absolutely deserves to be recognized for his bravery and quick thinking. He stepped up to help his sister and that is a wonderful thing.

However, while we are praising the brother for his efforts, we are slightly dismissing how well his younger sister defended herself.

Screaming for help is self defense.

Kicking is self defense.

Creating space between yourself and the attacker is self defense.

Self defense can look a lot of different ways, and any way you can survive is 100% the correct way to do it, but one thing I know for sure is that this young lady did a phenomenal job of keeping herself safe.

She should also be commended for being her own hero.

I don’t want this little girl growing up thinking she will always need someone else to protect her in order for her to be safe. I hope she is able to process this with guidance from a therapist and continue to stand in her own power.

She was smart, she was brave and she deserves just as much praise as her brother.

CRISTI JOHNSON,

Alpena