Bryce wrote:

> "Eric Takabayashi" <etakajp@yahoo.co.jp> wrote in message
> news:3FA9512F.FFFC266E@yahoo.co.jp...
> > Bryce wrote:
> >
> > > > >EMT?
> > > >
> > > > Emergency Medical Technician. A paramedic, in other words. You know,
> > > > one of the people who crewed the ambulance which came and tried to
> > > > rescue her retarded ass.
> > >
> > > O yeah, all those "Insta-Heros" from 9-11. You know, the firemen and
> EMT's.
> >
> > No, I did not have that in mind.
> >
> > They're heroes anyway.
>
> What about the garbageman that picks up our garbage everyday permitting our
> neighborhoods from succumbing to disease and hundreds of people dying,
> putting his life on the line because at any time he could get pricked by a
> needle or bit by a diseased rat?

No, and they don't keep that in mind. Even Japanese police do not necessarily
have a large risk factor. JSDF personnel even less. So now, another generation
of Americans is learning the hard way that joining the military is not simply
a way to pay for school, gain a skill, travel, or earn money, and among
themselves, anyway, many probably regret being there now or joining up,
particularly the reservists who've had to leave regular jobs as well as their
loved ones for an untold duration. And as last time in the Gulf, I feel sorry
for such people. Officers again insist that recruits know the risks upon
enlisting. I doubt they realized it would occur so soon or frequently.

> Is he too, then, not a hero? And if he is,
> then isn't anyone in any job or industry a hero?

No. By the way, when I've lived through UPW strikes as a child, or simply had
too much or the wrong kind of trash to put curbside, I've taken trash to the
landfill or collection site myself. I walked though and on top of such heaps
of trash, as well, before people thought of such things. Even the people of
Smoky Mountain appear to think food and money, before the real health risks
they face.

> If this is so, we need to come up with a different idea of what a hero is,
> because it is way, way overused.

It is. But not for people who knowingly put their lives on the line on a
regular basis with the express intention of trying to save the lives of
others. Even taxi driver, one of the highest risk jobs in the US by number of
annual deaths, does not expressly entail that.