Nestled on the side of what would otherwise be considered the sleepiest street of a quaint neighborhood, an elderly woman stands on the sidewalk, staring at her home while orange and yellow flames engulf the second floor. The smoke rolls upward from the shattered windows and burning rooftop, drawing the attention of residents miles from the house. Her screams are heard by a young man nearby, one of the old woman’s neighbors, who manages to calm the woman just long enough for her to sound out the words “my cat” before regressing into hysteria. Without hesitation, the young man springs from the sidewalk toward the burning house while sirens bellow in the distance.

In a different scenario, the same said elderly woman stands outside the same house. The same fire burns out of control and the same man runs in after the cat. This time, the woman’s cat watches from a treetop at the edge of the woman’s front lawn all the while.

No doubt, there’s a thin line between bravery and stupidity. In the case of the burning house, that line might have been drawn by the cat. Had the man emerged from the flames cradling a cat in his arms before it died of smoke inhalation, he would have been lauded as a hero some members of the community (perhaps a dumb one, but a hero nonetheless, particularly to the old woman). Conversely, the same man is stupid as a fence post in the second scenario.