With the media spotlight focused on highlighting instances in which TV programming has had a negative impact on kid behavior, it’s sometimes easy to forget that the medium also positively affects children of all ages educationally, morally and socially – inspiring them to be better people. I was recently reminded of this by an article published by newswire service The Canadian Press, and I’d like to share it with you.

Boy, 10, fails in bid to save girl from river Quyon, Quebec: A 10-year-old boy braved rough waters to pull a three-year-old girl from the Ottawa River and tried to drive the lifeless child to hospital, but his efforts failed to save her.

Grade 5 student Paul Miron single-handedly dragged Taylor Turcotte out of the water around 7:45 p.m. Sunday after Taylor’s father Steve, 35, was pulled into the current while trying to save her.

‘She disappeared under the water and when we looked back we could see the top of her head,’ said Paul, adding the water was up to Taylor’s forehead with only her blond hair sticking out above the river’s dark surface. ‘She wasn’t splashing; she was just trying to push herself out of the water,’ he said.

He pulled his young friend from the water and dragged her body to the pick-up truck owned by her father. He lifted her body into the front seat, fastened her seatbelt and started driving.

‘She wasn’t breathing when I got her in the truck,’ he said. ‘I was going to drive it to the hospital.’ But he didn’t get far before the wheels sank in sand.

In the meantime, Taylor’s brother Nathan – who was also with the group on a fishing trip – ran to get help and found a couple who had been on a houseboat. Paul and Nathan then left Taylor with the couple and ran to a variety store nearly half a kilometer away to call for help.

Help arrived, but attempts to resuscitate Taylor were not successful. It took about five hours to retrieve her father’s body from the river. Paul, who remained calm throughout the ordeal, said he learned how to act in an emergency situation by watching a children’s television show featuring heroic acts by young people.

Copyrighted by The Canadian Press

Hats off this month to everyone whose work has inspired a child. I know there are a lot of you out there!