However, it is also important to remember that there are silent victims in each of these tragedies. The engineers of the trains involved and the fire and police first responders to each of these tragedies are also deeply impacted. They must live with the memories of each event in which they were personally involved for the rest of their lives. And they must take those memories home with them - sometimes sharing that burden with their own families and often burying those memories deep inside so that they can go back to their job each day.
Because of their professionalism these silent victims do not seek our appreciation but they do deserve greater recognition of and understanding for the price that they and their families pay for the burden that WE ask them to carry.
They remember every minute of searching for survivors and then remains at every disaster to which we have sent them. They remember reverently retrieving the broken bodies. They remember the horror of finding an infant seat in a destroyed vehicle and spending hours searching for a possible infant survivor/victim.They remember carrying that burden home. They emphatically consider themselves as directly impacted by these events.
Let us keep these silent victims in our thoughts and prayers and remember that they are serving us every day.
