BE OUR GUEST: SMOKE DETECTORS WORK, BUT NOT FOR THOSE WHO CAN'T AFFORD THE NECESSITIES OF LIFE

Paul Hennrich is a resident of Cape Girardeau and an employee of Union Pacific Railroad.

A couple of weeks ago something on the news shocked me. In Philadelphia, in an~ unheated dwelling without electricity or running water, a woman and her two children were killed in a fire. Another child was seriously burned. They were heating and cooking on kerosene stoves.

It was not the incident itself that shocked me. Like all of modern man, I have my emotional flak jacket on. Tragedies are a dime a dozen. What caused me to pause was a soundbite interview that followed the picture of the charred windows. A fire department official made the statement that the deaths were another disaster that pointed to the fact that lives could be saved if only everyone had smoke detectors.

"Yeah," I thought, "if only that~ foolish woman had bought smoke detectors."

And that was what shocked me. That I had let such a thought pass my mind. Smoke detectors? Who were they kidding? The people couldn't afford utilities. They heated and cooked with kerosene heaters. Smok~e detectors?

First, let me say that I am sure the fire department official meant well. He was only spouting~ the official, generic spiel. Yes, we do need fire detectors.

But, I wondered, how man~ people had heard that broadcast and thought what I did, and didn't catch themselves?

"Good Lord, why didn't she have fire detectors?"

Quite a few, I imagine. It's that emotional flak jacket. Riots. Murders. Child abuse. Rapes. Horror after horror. And we forget~ ... those are human beings out there. In need.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear. I am not one of~ your "feed 'em all" liberals. Neither am I a "let 'em get a job" conservative. I only stand on my fence and wonder why we can't find a common ground. A common ground which encompasses common decency. Because there is no reason for two children and their mother to be incinerated by kerosene heaters. Not in this country, not in this time. For s~ure, we must help those truly doing their best and just not making it. And we must make those who don't want to work work, eventually. But whatever, help the children. Whatever it takes. Their vote doesn't count.

I don't know if those who died are remembered as good folk. I don't know if the mother is remembered as one who tried. I don't know if she was married or even if the children knew their father. I don't know if an~yone ever asked them "Are you happy or not?" There is onl~~y one thing I know for certain they are.

They are dead.