2020 brought us 600,000 deaths from the COVID-19 global pandemic, 130,000,000 people facing starvation from the ensuing economic shut down, one billion animals killed in Australian wildfires, riots across the globe, plus locusts and murder hornets. It’s been an Annus Horibilis, or if you prefer, a bum year.

Against that backdrop, it’s a blessing to find a hero. He’s a six-year-old Jiu-Jitsu student named Bridger Walker. You’ve seen the story on the social network.

https://twitter.com/JEThompson/status/1283232217636970496

Bridger was 19 months old when he first met his newborn sister, and for 15 minutes he wouldn’t let her go. Two years ago Bridger, his father, and his older brother started training at Black Label Jiu-Jitsu in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Among the very youngest and smallest in the got used to confronting larger, stronger opponents. He entered his first competition and failed to place, while his older brother got first. Bridger was bitterly disappointed, and that was the start of a greater determination. On July 9, 2020, it was put to a test.

His mother explains what happened in an interview with Wyoming News.