On July 11, 2022, Nick Bostic of Lafayette, Indiana was driving home from the gas station when he noticed a nearby house on fire. Without hesitation, Bostic ran into the home, finding four children and taking them to safety outside. Moments later, he learned there was one more child inside, a six-year-old girl trapped on the second floor.
Without stopping to think about his own safety, the 25-year-old Bostic ran back inside, finding the girl but trapping himself upstairs in the process. Nonetheless, Bostic crashed through a second-floor window with her in his arms, carrying her to local police as they arrived on scene. He was later hospitalized for smoke inhalation and an arm injury. The six-year-old suffered just a minor cut to her foot.
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When Bostic was approaching the home, he already had made up his mind many years earlier what he’d do in a situation like this. Growing up, Bostic prepared for the worst, never knowing when or if it would happen, but to ensure that when the time comes, he’d be able to instinctively help anyone who needed it.
At one point in his childhood, Bostic even created mixed martial arts-inspired self-defense techniques, similar to the spinning backfist, just on the off-chance he or someone he knew was being bullied or harassed, so he could have a chance of protecting those involved.
So, on that Monday night, when five children needed saving, it was those selfless acts ingrained in him since he was their same age, that helped him spring to immediate action.
“I needed to know if anyone was inside and rescue them,” Bostic said. “I’ve thought about things like this [when I was younger] in case they happen in the future to already have a decision on what I would do, so it didn’t take me long to run to the back door of the house.”
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Since that night, Bostic has received endless messages from media outlets, friends, family and even total strangers. Surprised by the amount of support, he realized that the attention he’s receiving gave him a platform he wished he had his whole life; a platform where he could inspire change, encouraging acts of kindness to not be something you do on occasion, but instill in your everyday life.
“My opportunity in life and chance to make a difference in the world off just one action,” Bostic said regarding the doors that have opened for him since that night. “I thought [only celebrities] could get enough people to listen to [my story] to create the domino effect that’s started. When it comes down to it, my thing is just the word ‘kindness.’ And what should encourage people to [be kind] in every decision they make is love. Treat others how you want to be treated.
“Realistically it’s just little stuff like that. I knew one day that the world could be tough for my kids to grow up in and, at a couple points in my life, I didn’t know whether I should think about having kids. The way the world is, I’d want to bring my boy or girl into a world with people integrating acts of kindness in their decision making.”
A fan of the UFC and mixed martial arts, Bostic briefly joined White Tiger Martial Arts in Fayetteville, Arkansas when he was in seventh grade. Now, he will have the opportunity to meet UFC President Dana White and watch UFC 279: Chimaev vs Diaz in T-Mobile Arena this Saturday as a thank you for his heroism on July 11.
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