Aleksander Skarlatos, who helped subdued terrorist on Paris train, talked to Fisher College grads about ‘stepping up’
“You’re only given one life. You can choose to participate, or you can choose to be a spectator.”
Aleksander Skarlatos, who, along with two friends, gained notoriety for helping to subdue a terrorist on a Paris-bound train last summer, told Fisher College’s class of 2016 that he doesn’t consider himself a hero.
“We didn’t see what we did that day as anything special. It just had to be done, no question,” Skarlatos said at Fisher’s commencement on Saturday at John Hancock Hall. “They saw us as heroes, a term I reluctantly accept. What is heroic about doing what you’re supposed to do to survive?”
Skarlatos, an Oregon Army National Guardsman specialist, received the Army Soldier’s Medal and the Legion of Honour, France’s highest decoration. The 23-year-old also competed on season 21 of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, finishing in third place.
Before Fisher president Dr. Thomas M. McGovern introduced Skarlatos, he asked all veterans in the class of 2016 and all veterans in attendance to stand.
“I salute all of you,” McGovern said.
American hero @alekskarlatos delivered a stirring commencement address. #honored #classof2016 pic.twitter.com/mJWdpdyOb6
— Fisher College (@FisherCollege) May 14, 2016
McGovern presented Skarlatos with an honorary degree from Fisher before his commencement speech, in which Skarlatos talked about having to “step up.”
“The gunman entered our car, he had 270 rounds of ammunition, and it was his goal to unload it on all of us that day,” Skarlatos said. “In that instant, I knew we had no choice. I knew I was not just going to sit back and watch my friends get hurt or die. I wasn’t going to watch innocent people through no fault of their own lose their lives. This was my moment, our moment, to step up.”
Skarlatos plans to return to Umpqua Community College in Oregon, where a mass shooting occurred last October after the train incident, to finish his degree in law enforcement. He was in Los Angeles for Dancing with the Stars at the time of the shooting and felt that he should have been on campus, he said, but knows there are times when you can’t do it all.
“Although my time walking across the stage and accepting my degree is still ahead of me,” he said, “if there’s anything I can share with you, it’s this: You’re only given one life. You can choose to participate, or you can choose to be a spectator. … It’s up to you.”
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