Only love and courage can fill the empty boots of a firefighter.

Tomorrow, 30 Dey, marks the anniversary of the fire and collapse of the Plasco building.

We lost dozens of fellow citizens and courageous firefighters in this painful tragedy: honourable men who, through self-sacrifice, rescued hundreds of people from a burning hell that was collapsing around them.

May we honour their memory on such a day, and remember not only the courageous firefighters of our homeland but all the hardworking, honourable, unnamed men and women who are our everyday heroes—unassuming heroes who, wherever they are, use the paradise within their own being to lessen, as far as they can, the hell of suffering in our world.

In these days when a smile, a helping hand, or a word filled with affection have become so rare, there are men and women who, wherever they are and despite all the suffering they endure and sorrow they carry, generously give these rare things freely to their fellow citizens. These are people who have accepted responsibility for being one person in this suffering world.

These people are my heroes. You, my hardworking fellow citizen, are my hero.

Aydin Areta