We don't know James Shaw Jr. but there is a saying that we're fond of from Clint Smith, one of the founders of Thunder Ranch. It goes like this "You have to decide now, that you're going to fight, you can't wait till you're on the ground with your ribs broken and your face smashed in." You've got to decide now, before the battle arrives, that you'll fight, that you'll give whatever adversary comes your way, hell for picking the place where you are to try and cause his mayhem. It is evident in his actions that James Shaw Jr. had decided that he wouldn't be a victim.Take politics, take talking points, take narratives, take whatever superfluous opinions out of the equation and look at what James Shaw Jr. did early Sunday morning April 22, 2018. A clearly deranged man came to a Waffle House, we can't make this up, nude and firing away. James says he didn't think of others when he fought back. He said that if he were going to die that day the gunman would have to "work to kill me".While James doesn't see himself as a hero, he jumped into action and fought the gunman for control of the weapon. Despite the gunman firing at him and getting grazed, the barrel burning his hand when he grabbed it, James Shaw Jr. did not waiver in protecting himself and through that, protecting the others around him. He had what we call a bias for action.

It's not every day that you find yourself in James' circumstances. His quick action and decision to not go down without a fight is the epitome of the American fighting spirit and for that, we raise a glass to James Shaw Jr. Even though you don't see yourself as a hero, through your honesty and your actions, you are one. You don't necessarily have to think of others to be a hero, you just have to do the right thing.Read more stories of American Grit here:

RICHARD GANNON: HEROISM IN HUSAYBAH

HUMILITY PERSONIFIED, THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER

SPENCER STONE: A GRITTY FIGHT