Ever since pre-school, the most typical answer to the questions, "Who is your hero?" and "Who do you look up to the most?" was either Superman, the police, or firefighters. Yes, these careers are all dangerous and we are all incredibly grateful for the police officers and firefighter who put their lives at risk to help the community. However, aside from Superman, these jobs were chosen. The police and firefighters voluntarily signed up for their job, knowing all the risks. They performed a cost-benefit analysis and decided to pressure a risky career path. While they are "everyday heroes" and it is a horrible thing that these people go to work every day wondering if they will survive the day and if they will be alive to come home to their families; they are not the only ones.
One of the many jobs at the U.S. Department of Labor is tracking statistics of death at work and why. In general, taxi drivers are more likely to die at work, in any way, than police officers or firemen. Why are taxi drivers so disrespected than if their job is arguably more dangerous? For every 100,000 taxi drivers, 17.85 will die on the job. This number is only 15.96 for police officers and 8.36 for firefighters. Taxi drivers are also the most likely profession to be killed violently on the job. Taxi drivers are at a higher risk of being a victim of homicide while working than being a victim of a transportation accident.
Evidently, taxi drivers go to work everyday, similar to police and firefighters, not knowing whether they will come home. Yes, taxi drivers did choose this job, but it is unfair to create such harsh and negative stereotypes on taxi drivers. Not all taxi drivers are immigrants who could not find another job. We romanticize these dangerous jobs so much, but only selectively. We praise policemen and firemen, but lack even acknowledging the dangers of other "simpler" jobs.
I'm not saying we should disrespect and think lesser of policemen and firemen, but rather we should not be so ignorant to the dangers of everyday jobs you look twice at. The policemen and firemen are everyday heroes, but so are some of the smaller guys. Everyday people go to work not knowing the potential for danger, and not knowing if they are going home that day. These are our unsung heroes. The people who go to work everyday, face potentially dangerous situations, and continue to work to better the community.
