These are some of the quiet achievers in society, some unacknowledged, some misunderstood, and some plainly despised.

Organ donors

This almost unacknowledged group of people probably qualify for the highest accolade of all, and I would like to bring them to your notice.

The group of parents out there who have had a child die as a result of an accident, then who are able to dissociate themselves from their grief and pain for enough time to make their child’s organs available for others.

The single worst event which can happen in your life is the death of a child.

During the initial stages of shock and anguish, the last thing on most people’s minds would be the carving up of their child’s body to be used for organ donation.

So, who are these people?

People with enough guts to put aside their own loss to save another life, a trait which is almost certainly rarer than those other heroes who put their own lives at risk to help others.

Many religions specifically forbid organ donation too.

A friend of my wife has a daughter who had an incurable liver disease, with her only option for a life much beyond her seven years, being a transplant. A donor was eventually found in the guise of a dead Australian child, details unknown.

The liver was flown from Australia to enable a transplant to take place, which has turned out spectacularly well, with the girl now living a pretty much normal life, back at school, healthy and happy.

On one side, elation for that family for the gift of life to their beloved daughter, on the other, the bleak despair of a life without your child.

My respect for families who do this knows no bounds; small comfort perhaps, a lot less than the comfort of knowing that your child truly did NOT die in vain. He or she lives on as a lifelong testament to your courage.

I salute you.

Update 2013 - another family I remain in awe of is that of jockey Ashley Mundy, who was killed in a racing accident. The family agreed for the doctors to keep life support going to harvest the organs from her.

Dusties.

These blokes come to your place weekly and take your filth away with them. If this filth were not removed weekly, cities would very quickly revert to having rat and disease problems not seen for centuries. Dusties get paid bugger all for doing a physically demanding and sickening job. To these guys who could be languishing on the dole for very little less money, I take my hat off to you.

This category of bloody heroes also includes any other occupation where the pay and work are both awful, such as Nurse Aides who clean up puke for peanuts.

When any of my racist mates next have a go at "darkies" perhaps they would like to check out what colour skin almost all of these people who clear up their filth have.

Jockeys.

If you ever want to meet the pound for pound toughest person in the country – go and meet a jockey, male or female. Travelling at a speed not much under that of some types of motor racing, and on a charge heavier than some cars, these fearless little guys and girls wear a silk shirt for protection. (Very recently, the racing clubs have made protective vests compulsory)

Horses can fall in the middle of a field at any stage, and when the jockey hits the turf there are up to 80 legs to miss, any one of which could deliver a fatal blow. A tragic example of this was the recent death of a 16 year old apprentice in the South Island, mercilessly dragged and pounded to death behind a racehorse for 900 metres.

Being on a galloping horse is exhilarating, being on a racehorse at top speed in a large field would terrify the pants off most people, yet jockeys do this 3 or 4 days a week. Many of them only went into racing because they were small and no academic background is needed; and many of them simply get an average wage for starting work at 4 am daily, then putting their lives on the line every time they race. The true champions of this noble sport, the jockeys often get little acknowledgement, being the poor relation behind the trainer.

Cops.

Much maligned, hated in some areas, these people have just about the shittiest job on earth. Would you like to be first on the scene of child rape/murder? Or maybe bursting in the door of a house where all you know is that someone inside is screaming?

Sure, there are some bad cops, there are bad people all over the place and much in the same way that arsonists often become firemen, no doubt there is a particular type of psycho who gets off on being a cop until they get caught as they always do. The overwhelming majority of cops take the shit which the job offers and form an impenetrable camaraderie with their peers. They have a lousy record in marriage due to the demands of the job and lots of them end up as alcoholics or burnt-out wrecks, yet manage to inspire and enthral schoolchildren and have a helping hand for little old ladies crossing the road.

Should change their phone number to 0800BLOODYHEROES

They would restore your faith in human nature until you realised it was the scum out there which means we even need to have police.