Karen’s makeup was running. She reached over with her hook and took Lou’s. The usually tough exterior Lou started to cry too. “Lou, if the president of the United States had just come on stage and handed me a medal for service I would not feel as honored. I am trying. Believe me I am.”

Lou reached over with her left hand and took Karen’s. “I know you are. I know how hard you are working. And I know you will make it.” She looked over at Patti. “Can I be just me for a minute?”

“Sure.”

She faced the camera. “If I look at the other people here I will choke and not be able to say this and it needs to be said. I told you about Denise helping the other women. But I need to tell you about a couple of other people here. Just before the show one of the men dumped some coffee on his shirt. Patti was grabbing Wet Ones to help him. Karen was down helping one of the girls pick up a pile of paper she dropped. I was just here a short time and I have seen them do things like that to help people. They care about the people they work with, with the people they meet, and I listened to some discussion this morning on whether something they were going to do was good for the people in the audience. It wasn’t, “will this sell”, but “was it the right thing to do.” I never thought anyone in this business cared. Patti, Karen, Denise, I want to apologize to you. If there is someone else out there who cares the same way, I can’t apologize to you but just understand, there is one person out there who knows there are people who care.”

Patti’s makeup was running. “Lou. If we got the highest award for a show it would not mean what that does.”

Lou responded. “You do deserve both that and the awards. I believe you will be recognized and get them.”

Karen smiled, “I don’t care about the awards. I do want to finish something about amputees and we will run out of time if I don’t move on. I’ve talked to some people who are amputees about cosmetic versus functional appliances and it isn’t just isn’t possible to replace the limb. That foot, hand, leg or arm they lost has dozens of muscles to move it and nerves to tell them where it is and what it is doing. It is wonderfully made by God, and man has not been able to duplicate it or even come close. I did some research on the web and came to the conclusion Lou has. Unless something really great comes out you will usually be seeing me with this hook rather than a fancy hand that is cosmetic but not functional.” She held up the hook. “I know the hand would make me look more normal, whatever that means, but that is for other people. What I can do is for me. Tell me, what looks normal for someone who is missing their arm two inches above the elbow?”