"Heroes run into burning buildings when everyone else is running out..."

I fell in love with New York cops and firefighters after 9-11. They are some of the most masculine, the most heroic, the most true American men you can find in this country. As we watched them run INTO the burning towers, we held our collective breaths that Tuesday... September 11th, 2001. We knew many weren't coming out, and as it turned out, very few actually did.

Of course the new TV show, "Blue Bloods" only reinforces my admiration for the NYPD since Tom Selleck is representing them. I love how generations of these men, many are Irish Catholic, are on the police force, and are the epitome of how you would want a man to be.

Today, Pete Figoski was buried as the hero he was. He responded to a burglary in Brooklyn and was shot in the face, leaving four beautiful daughters. Daughters that chose to live with him after their parents divorce this year. And now, Christine, 20, Caitlyn, 18, Caroline, 16 and Corrine, 14, are left devastated. Mayor Bloomberg said in his eulogy, "Pete always had a smile on his face that reminded you in the toughest moments that all's OK with the world - strong, dependable, solid as a rock, Pete had the knowledge and know-how that only came from years on the job. It's incomprehensible that someone like Pete, who gave so much to so many, could have his life taken from him." The story was told that the day before Pete lost his life, that he had been given a chance to work overtime in Manhattan but to his supervisor's surprise, he turned it down. When he was later told how much money he could have made, he beamed and said, "I got a chance to spend a beautiful day with my girls."

Today, the bagpipes played Amazing Grace in the funeral procession among more than 10,000 police officers from across America who gathered to pay their respects to the fallen New York Police Department officer. His youngest daughter later said at his funeral mass, "We now feel connected to a side of our dad we rarely saw at home. He always put us first. We will forever remember the memories with our dad and our loving family. Our father would be so honored and so proud by all of this, and is forever in our hearts. It is said when a hero falls, an angel rises. Rest in peace, Daddy."

Amen...