Heroes

Cannonfire: "Of power and paranoia"

...Odd, isn't it...? Americans are trained to hate the Evil Gummint. Yet all the jobs that produce heroes -- firemen, soldiers, teachers, rescue workers, power grid repair crewmen, even cops -- are government gigs. Yes, people who toil in retail and fast food often work very hard. Yet it must be admitted that -- perhaps unfairly -- nobody has ever used the word "heroic" to describe a cashier at McDonalds. Governments have a near monopoly on the heroic. Although some have used that adjective to describe investigative journalists, it's hard to think of any other examples from the corporate world...

I remember noting during the collapse of the WTC that all the private employees were running out of the buildings, while all the public employees were running into the buildings.