r The heroic story of Arland Williams, as described in Hero of the frozen river, is touching and extremely eye opening. This man gave away two chances at survival to save two complete strangers. Safran (1982), the author of this article, describes one of the most significant moments of the rescue: "They aimed one line at the balding man. Once more, he caught it. Did he think then, even briefly, of his own chances for survival?". Different people would probably have taken the rope for themselves, however, various factors could help to expl ....