Sixteen-year-old Celia McGinty doesn’t consider herself a hero.

All she did was tell someone in a position of authority about a weird Internet conversation she was having in a music chat room with a disturbed boy from Michigan. In this case, the authority figure was her father, Cpl. George McGinty of the Washington State University Police Department, who also did the right thing by telling a colleague to contact authorities in the boy’s area.

As a result, Andrew Osantowski, 17, of Clinton Township in the Detroit area was arrested and charged with threatening terrorism, concealing stolen firearms, breaking and entering a gunshop, threatening a witness, and other crimes. At his home, police found reason to believe the teen wasn’t bluffing when he chatted with Celia about “the joy of killing” and made threats against his school and a police officer. There were guns, including an AK-47, knives, chemicals, bomb-making materials, Nazi flags and books about white supremacy and Adolf Hitler.

No one knows if Osantowski would have carried out his threats. In the aftermath of the 1999 mass murder at Columbine High, however, society should err on the side of caution. Celia McGinty may have saved a life or more by printing out her conversations with Osantowski and taking her concerns to her father. She may be surprised by all the fuss made about her deed – she’s already appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning, America” – but she deserves to be held up as a role model for her peers, and for adults.

Imagine how different things might have been in Littleton, Colo., if someone had come forward to expose Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold before they carried out their murderous rampage, killing 12 other Columbine students, a teacher and themselves.

Celia McGinty had several options when the boy she met online three weeks ago started fantasizing about making headlines and gaining notoriety by harming a policeman and fellow students at Chippewa Valley High School. She could have not taken him seriously. Or tried to help him deal with his violence. Also, she could have stopped chatting with the boy. She chose the best option by recognizing the potential danger and turning to an adult. Among his other duties at WSU, Cpl. McGinty investigates Internet crime.

Students should seek out someone in authority if they have an inkling that a fellow student has a weapon or intends to harm someone.

Adults can find a lesson in Celia McGinty’s actions, too.

Occasionally, we see things that don’t appear right – a suspicious person or car in the neighborhood, an open gate in the yard of a neighbor who’s on vacation, people coming and going at all hours in a nearby home. We hesitate because we don’t want to appear nosy or we fear that our suspicions will prove groundless. Sometimes, they are. Occasionally, they’re not.

In this time of terror, domestic and foreign, it’s crucial for us to be watchful and to have the courage to follow Celia McGinty’s example.