Following the news over the past, well… 30 years…, no, 38 years, yields an overarching sense of unease, at least, or sadness. On the other hand, there is a lot that was and is good about the period, although the risks to the nation have, in fact, increased.
Recently we attended an award ceremony honoring police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians. Lots of plaques were handed over, many political citations delivered, photographs taken and hands shaken. Great descriptions were spoken by proud chiefs of departments, of the events, both heroic and heart-warming, that spurred the recognitions and the great banquet we all attended. America is rather special in the world of celebratory and honorary plaques. Not simply sports trophies, including individual trophies, but plaques and awards for individual excellence in every field, including abundant charitable acts and volunteerism, are presented / awarded in the millions every year in North America.
Such was the focus of the banquet noted above. As in every year, individuals and small teams of police, firefighters and EMT’s, responding to emergencies large and small, performed extremely well, usually saving lives or injury, restoring safety or comforting those affected. We have come to expect such excellence and we’re happy to recognize it publicly. Private companies proudly provide financial support so that hundreds both within and without the departments represented, can join in recognizing the “heroes amongst us.”
Where do they come from, these men and women of excellence? Meritocracy: a tradition of testing and performing to standards that should at least make excellence likely, if not guarantee it. High, even sacrificial performance, does not derive from social egalitarianism; it derives from individuality and the beliefs of the individual. It derives from an inner sense of sacrifice for others… even others one does not know.
If such true servants were assigned their duties, proscribed by rules and threats of loss, the acts of heroism would be much rarer, the acts of charity unknown. The innate belief in a purpose for life that is transcendent, spiritual, if you will, is required to act selflessly. Humans, inherently capitalist as they are, will not risk comfort or safety without some reward, spiritual or otherwise. Where the spiritual aspect is destroyed, only personal wealth, money, sex, or other worldly riches suffice.
The men and women honored earlier this year received no financial reward. I can’t state any evidence of greater safety for any of them. They didn’t get raises, although their dinners were free to them. The sponsors presented plaques of recognition; various state senators and representatives provided citations from their respective legislative chambers, and mayors and town managers chimed in, too. But, no wealth.
The honorees consider that they were “just doing their jobs,” and that no awards were needed. Yet they could have each “done their jobs” with less effort, less risk, less imagination or innovation. Each might have done the minimum necessary to pass the standard tests, to attend required training, or even to take that training very seriously. But they didn’t. Each seems to carry in himself or herself, a sense of duty to something greater than one’s self gain. Each seems to excel when he or she might do something lesser.
Their communities do the right thing to provide recognition, be it a plaque, a certificate or simply deserved thanks. Prudence says it’s a shame more citizens don’t take part.