Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Taking Time Out From the Rat Race

Aired December 19, 2001 - 08:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: When you do what we do for a living, you never know what kind of story you are going to find when you walk out the door with a camera.

Case in point, just watch this view of the rat race with our own Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Are you still a hero if the creature you save happens to be a rat. After all, rat has become synonymous with traitor or coward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come out and take it you dirty, yellow- bellied rat or I'll do it to you through the door!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: Rats are ridiculed.

In New York, unions drag out inflatable rats to symbolize scabs, and depicted as killers in movies like "Willie."

The city organizes campaigns to wipe them out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will go lot by lot, building by building to terminate the rats.

MOOS: Little wonder then that when a loan rodent ran on to treacherous 8th Avenue in front of Madison Square Garden, it got little sympathy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's throw that on the grill right now.

MOOS: At first, things looked bad for the rat. But as pedestrians stopped to gape, the rodent managed to escape becoming roadkill, cheating death time after time -- after time.

Yellow-bellied bystanders did nothing but stand by.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, let's go help him.

MOOS (on camera): No, no, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come no, me and you, me and you.

MOOS (voice-over): For what it's worth, the Chinese have a proverb, when a rat crosses the street, everyone shouts and beats it, but this rat beat the odds. Make that 10 out of nowhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, you got him.

MOOS A guy scoops up the rat and brought him to safety. Actually he dropped it and picked it up again before releasing the rat on the sidewalk, then turn the good samaritan turned tailed himself as we gave chase.

(on camera): Come on, you rescued a rat.

DAVID GOLANN, RAT RESCUER: I grabbed it with this, because, I mean, I didn't want to touch it. I don't have any affection for rats, but all of those cars passed by and it was still alive, so I figured I should.

MOOS (voice-over): What New Yorker would risk life and limb for a rat? Are you kidding, David Golann is from Boston. He empathized with the rat.

GOLANN: I just sort of know what it's like to be pretty scared.

MOOS: So do we, of rats. Nevertheless, we salute you, David, for taking time out of the human rat race to race to the rescue of a rat.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com