Hi Tom - what a well-written piece, along with the other one about the poor guy who'd died from lung cancer (I really admired both the description of what you all did there as well as what you did). Just one thing - please try not to say "sorry" for writing stuff like this - please understand that it's what you write and how you write it which has won you respect and admiration from near and far. I don't think you're a cynic either - wasn't it said that a cynic is someone who knows the cost of everything but the true value of nothing? It can hardly be said that you don't know the true value of a life...........for you see the consequences of wasted lives and the benefits of saved ones (or at least of saved dignity in the lung cancer case). Keep being you. All the best /j