It was probably the 9/11 event that really brought the significance of what firefighters do everyday to our attention the way that it should have been all along. We all saw the way these people risk and lost their lives in a way we have never seen take place before. Firefighters by the scores worked around the clock with little relief for all the time it took. So many of these firefighters went into the doomed buildings knowing very well that there was a great possibility they would never be coming back out.



Many of them never did get to come back out and it must have been horrible for their family members to be at home watching on television knowing that there husband, wife, father, brother, or sister might not be coming home that day or ever again. Even some of those that did manage to do their job heroically were severely injured never to be the same. It has taken many long years of healing for all the families of the firefighters, rescue workers, and police officers that lost their lives that day along with all the victims that were trapped inside the towers.

It is very sad that it sometimes takes such a tragic event to make the rest of us realize how these firefighters and other rescue workers put their lives on the line every single day. It takes a brave person to do these jobs and it takes a brave person to be married to one of those that have these occupations as a career choice. The never knowing whether today could be the day they die or not must be a terrible burden for these spouses and children to bear.

In many cases firefighters, rescue workers, and police officers do not even get paid all that well for all the risk that is involved in their jobs. It seems that they should have some of the best pay rates available for what they do. After all, it is not just everyone that could stand up to the pressure that these positions require on a daily basis.

There was a lot of support and help available for the families of the firefighters and others who lost family members in the tragic 9/11 event, but there are many others who die in less recognized events everyday that are just as important and devastating. Even though the families are often helped out by the other members of the department their loved one was with, it can never replace who that person was in their lives.