My Best Girl and I enjoy going to the theater when we can. We're between two small cities, each about 40 minutes away, so there are about 5-6 theaters between the two that have acts come into town often. It makes for a nice evening.
A whole lot of the acts that are staged there, though, are performers we have no interest in, or tribute bands for groups we didn't like the originals of anyway, but there are enough acts, shows, comics, groups, ballets, and the like that we do want to see, to keep us attending a couple times a month on average.
A month or two ago, we saw a well-known entertainer do his thing. Or their thing. It might have been a group; it really doesn't matter.
What matters is that, near the end of the show, they did a patriotic number. That's not unusual; this is the South, and we're patriotic Americans here. We like such songs, and we like it when an entertainer acknowledges the freedoms our nation provides and that such freedoms allow them to perform as they please. That's cool.
It is typical that, when a performer does such a number, they will introduce it with a big thank-you to veterans in the audience. They'll be asked to stand and be honored before the song, and the audience will invariably cheer loudly for them. Some of those vets -- OK, many of them, given the average age around here -- are Korean War-era veterans, and they're all in their 90s. Big applause.
I said earlier that such intros are pretty common. A frequent tweak to that intro is to ask for vets and cops and first responders to stand.
Certainly I have no issue with that. We honor our veterans, and we also honor our fellow Americans who put their lives at risk by serving as policemen, firefighters and other first responders, helping their fellow Americans in need at the risk of their own safety, and do so on a regular basis.
My late brother-in-law was a career police officer who retired as the head of his department. My neighbor across the street was just named Chief for the local fire department -- and as it is an all-volunteer department, he is paid zero even though it is literally a full-time job. But even without those connections, I'd find the people who take those jobs worth the honor along with our esteemed veterans.
So imagine my reaction when a recent performer introduced their patriotic tune with a request that "All our veterans in the audience, please stand, along with our policemen, firefighters and first responders ... and teachers."
Our what?
Yep, the guy asked for teachers to stand along with the actual heroes in the audience.
Now, please don't say I'm demeaning people who teach children for a living. We need teachers, and I've certainly admired some that I've had. But in no way do I regard them in the same way as those who put their lives on the line as a regular part of their job.
Let me give you a way to look at this. I've been a defense contractor for the last 40 years of my professional career, a career of over 50 years starting as an actor. The work I do is important, in the sense that what I do ultimately helps our customers in the Department of War more easily acquire products and services needed to accomplish their missions.
But from my position, I look at the uniformed servicemen whom I support as the heroes. They volunteered to take up arms and take on their mission defending our nation at risk to life and limb. I look up to the newest E-1 in the military service. I'm just helping them. They're the heroes.
That logic applies to our cops and firefighters as well. They volunteered for a job that risks their lives daily to protect the lives and safety of their fellow citizens. I wave at cops when I can, but that's about all I can do to help them.
To me, the teachers are far more analogous to me and my job, than to the military and first responders. They do a valuable job, but so do I, and I would surely think of it as stolen valor, if I stood up along with those who risk their lives so my wife and I can go see a show.
There are heroes, and then there are those who do a job.
I'll let the heroes stand, and I'll just applaud them vigorously from my seat.
I'd hope that the teachers would be applauding the real heroes along with me.
Copyright 2026 by Robert Sutton. Like what you read here? There are over 1,000 posts from Bob at www.uberthoughtsUSA.com and, after four years of writing a new one daily, he still posts thoughts once in a while as "visiting columns", no longer the "prolific essayist" he was through 2018, but still around. Appearance, advertising, sponsorship and interview inquiries cheerfully welcomed at bsutton@alum.mit.edu or on Twitter at @rmosutton.
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