THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN THE WORLD

When you watch those riggers and seamen working against that Gulf oil spill, you're watching first responders at their very best. In their rugged arms and steadfast eyes you're seeing the kind of valor so missing among the sleek masters-of-the-universe who decide fates in soft mahogany conference rooms, and vacation in exclusive summer resorts.

Here in Chicago, considerably north of the Gulf, I had a brush with a similar breed of first responders. A morning at the ER for symptoms that required different kinds of arms, but the same kind of eyes. ER's can be like that. A measure of the merits of our species, because here -- like in the Gulf -- you can find a proud community of skill and spirit at work.

Things went fairly well here; down there the final results are not yet in. But whether every patient survives or whether every oil spill is salvaged is not the point. The point -- indeed maybe the whole purpose -- is that some among us have committed their time and talents to save what most needs to be saved.

Something all too few professions can claim.

What I always liked about the old Frank Capra movies is what I still like about today's first responders. An everyday can-do elan from the everyday people of the world. Corny...? You bet....! Indispensable...? Damn right...! Now if only more well-heeled masters-of-the-universe -- be they on Wall Street or on K Street -- would believe this, Capra's "what a wonderful life" might become more than a movie.

Well, here's one ER patient who can at least dream, can't he!

As I left there I noticed most of us patients were in our 60s and 70s. But just then I heard a small child crying in her mother's arms. Reminds you the elderly on this dangerous planet aren't the only ones who need first responders. Young or old, we'll all need them one time or another. Be glad they're there....!