We take a break from a week fraught with tense, high-level political intrigue and vitriolic debates to praise two quick-thinking bystanders who stepped forward, on different occasions, to avert what could have been a tragedy.
Their actions offer a lesson for us all.
In the first, better-known incident, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu stepped from the crowd at a seafood festival at Hampton Beach and saved a man who was choking during a lobster roll eating contest.
The contestant, 20-year-old Christian Moreno of Nashua, New Hampshire, said before the event that he hoped to eat 20 lobster rolls during the contest. But he had barely made it through two traditional New England rolls - stuffed with lobster, celery and mayo on a hot dog bun - before a piece of the crustacean became lodged in his throat.
Moreno started tapping his chest, and Sununu, who was watching the festivities after speaking to the crowd earlier, rushed to help, throwing his arms around the man and starting abdominal thrusts. He got in four or five compressions before first responders took over.
"I'm just glad I paid attention in my high school health class," Sununu said in a statement Monday. It was the first time he had performed the Heimlich maneuver.
Moreno recovered and, incredibly, went back to the contest. He didn't win, but did manage to consume (we can't call what happens at these contests "eating") nine lobster rolls in all.
The second incident occurred a few days earlier, on Friday in North Andover.
That's when custodian Kevin Foster was making his way through the lunchroom at North Andover Middle School, looking for spills and messy tables.
Instead, he heard cries of "He's choking! He's choking!" and saw 11-year-old Trevor Scribner struggling to breathe.
"I didn't really have time to think," Foster said. "(Trevor) had his hands on his neck and he was panicking.
"I went over and grabbed him and put him in the Heimlich maneuver," he said. "I put my thumbs under his ribs near his (sternum). A couple of pumps, maybe three, and whatever it was came out."
Trevor, who had just started eating lunch when he choked on a potato chip, was breathing comfortably by the time nurses and first responders arrived.
"We are so completely thankful for Kevin, that he knew how to do the Heimlich maneuver," said Trevor's mom, Krystle Scribner. "He knew what to do, stayed calm, and helped my son. In fact, he probably saved his life."
Foster sat through several CPR and first aid training sessions during his dozen years in the school system. It's clear he was paying attention.
"I'm really glad we did that because I knew what to do because of that training," he said. "After it was over, I was shaking a little bit, when it all hit me what happened."
That should make us all pay a little bit closer attention at our next training at work. Or maybe even seek out first aid training on our own (the Red Cross offers online and in-person classes). Such actions can feel quaint and old-fashioned at times, given our not-so-recent emergency from a deadly pandemic, and the current despise-thy-neighbor political climate. But we can think of two people who are thankful today.