  Email this page Print this page Share this page  Pay Them What
They're Worth  Marvin R. Shanken, Gordon Mott From the Print
Edition: Don Johnson, Mar/Apr 02  In our profiles of American
heroes this month, one quote hits home particularly hard. It
came from New York City firefighter John Whaler, of Engine 291
in Queens. His perspective is direct: "It's strange the way our
society treats athletes and celebrities. What are they doing?
Hitting a baseball for a living. And every year they demand more
millions. We will die for you without even thinking about it,
and for us to get a three-percent raise is like pulling teeth."
You know he's right. We know he's right. In fact, we know he's
so right that it makes us cringe. Here's a man who puts his life
on the line every day, and he can't even get an extra $1,000 or
$2,000 a year. But we pay a shortstop who has never been to the
World Series $25 million a year, and a movie star gets $20
million a picture even though his last three or four movies have
bombed at the