LUCINSKI: Saving just one life

By Dick Lucinski/lucinskid@gnnewspaper.com
Greater Niagara Newspapers

February 27, 2008 09:56 am

— You hear it from time to time, mostly from those groups or individuals who want to leave the world a better place than when they found it. It’s the phrase, “If we can save just one life, it will all be worth it,” or something to that effect. The “it” can be whatever function that particular person or organization is performing.
It’s a noble thought. After all, what is more precious than a human life? It starts one to thinking about life and death and the greater good; pretty heavy topics for a Wednesday morning but issues nonetheless worth considering.
For our public servants who risk their lives on a daily basis, it’s a constant question: When do I offer my life for the rest of society? For firefighters, it’s a pretty straightforward answer. When they see another’s life, or other’s lives in danger, they go into action, often putting themselves at risk. Hopefully, everything turns out fine. Sometimes it doesn’t.
Law enforcement officers face a more complex issue. When going out on patrol, they’re never 100 percent sure that they’ll be going home that night. Who knows if the next motorist they pull over on a traffic stop is a nut with a gun who’s willing and eager to use it? Who knows if the participants in the next violent domestic call they answer suddenly turn their wrath toward the officers trying to quell the disturbance? Who knows if, by working as an undercover drug agent, their cover is blown and the dealers they’re tracking decide to deal with them in a way none of us want to be dealt with?
More often than not, the police officer’s danger is a constant; not while directly saving a human life, but by saving something just as precious; society’s long-term safety and security. While the police officer’s life-saving function is usually not immediate, it is more constant, causing strain and pain on personal relationships as well as a direct danger to the officer. In all of these regards, we should be thankful that such brave people have chosen fire and rescue and law enforcement as their life’s work. It makes possible what we do in our daily lives.
It’s a similar picture on the larger stage. We know about the ultimate sacrifices made by those in the armed services. Scholars, political scientists and everyday citizens debate the relative value of the wars that have been fought in the name of this country. But the servicemen and women who died for the United States paid the price. The results of that sacrifice are the freedoms which we enjoy today.
Others give their lives unwillingly and become the statistics that are the cost of doing business in America. In a sense, they are economic casualties.
Perhaps the most striking are those who lose their lives on our highways. About 50,000 Americans are killed each year while trying to get from one place to the next.
But where would we be without our transportation system? Moving people and goods from place to place is the very heartbeat of our nation’s economy. To maintain that heartbeat, 50,000 people a year give up theirs. They don’t mean to; they don’t want to. Even so, accidents happen. Despite our best safety efforts, they are among America’s economic casualties.
The question: Is it worth it? Is it worth the pain and suffering and the loss of the lives of those directly involved? Is it worth the torment and anguish experienced by those who are left behind? By continuing to function in our free market economy, by continuing to defend our nation, by continuing to be protected by law enforcement and by rescue squads, our answer is “yes.”
Of course, we try to minimize those losses. But as long as there are people, there will be accidents and missteps and evil doers committing the ultimate crime. And paying the ultimate price, for some, will be a way of life.
Dick Lucinski is the managing editor of the Niagara Gazette.

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