Frank wrote:

Either for the glory, the money, or, more
rarely, because it is something important that must be done. Most of those
who think they are in the latter category only think it.

Err, what precisely is your point, Frank? Obviously, if one thinks something,
that person thinks it. Perhaps an exploration of the basics of elementary
logic is in order g. Or, quote the dictum, "I think, therefore, I exist"
(usually mis-translated into "I think, therefore, I am."). But I digress.

Few people would
admit to themselves that they do something only for the glory it brings so
they convince themselves that they do it for the reasons that everyone thinks
they do it for.

I admit it...I live only for the 'glory' of shoveling the remains of a
decomposing suicide victim...and a murder victim...mother and daughter...off a
floor in a stifling apartment on a typical August afternoon in New Orleans.

Or the 'glory' of trying to work a scene where the remains of someone's head is
literally raining off the ceiling, making the paperwork a wee bit messy, after
someone 'checked out' with a 12-gauge shotgun.

I particularly reveled in the 'glory' of recovering two teenaged girls' bodies
off the muddy floor of a stinking, polluted lake after they drowned on a hot
July afternoon (and yes, this is all documented).

Glory? Not even close, Frank. But these little jobs...and lots, *lots*
more..have to be handled by professionals, and it sure as hell isn't for
'glory'...come to think of it, I don't remember anyone asking for my autograph
or endorsement after I've emerged, reeking, from a multiple homicide case.

Hero? LOL...that's for sports fans and little kids.


James S. Prine
http://hometown.aol.com/jsprine/