I was talking to my son this week, explaining to him about why I want to be a kidney donor. Again, the issue that comes up is risk. I shared with him the stories of people I know who take risks in order to help people. I have a good friend who is a social worker. Part of her job involves apprehending children at risk and removing them from their families. It can be a dangerous job, she has received threats. For most people having their children taken away is a life and death issue, and it’s a time when violence can happen. But she still does her job. She walks alone down the street, she drives alone. She does it to help children not get hurt.
And then I know a young man who is a police officer. He has a wife and young children at home, yet he takes risks every day doing a job where he has a higher than average chance of being shot, or run over, or seriously injured by people who don’t respect the law. He does his job because he believes in it, he believes that it helps people.
I think we all want to live in a society where people are willing to take risks for the greater good.