Medal-worthy action

Recently Les Norton admonished a Spokesman reporter for using the term “earned” rather than “awarded” in the story covering one of our brave soldiers in Afghanistan (Letters, April 22).

However, the word “earned” was not used by the reporter but by an editor whose responsibility is to write headlines. The writer, Dave Trimmer, used the term “received.”

Next, Mr. Norton uses the Purple Heart to illustrate what he believes to be the difference between “earning” and being “awarded” a medal. This example is an unfortunate choice because the Purple Heart is clearly earned: If you are wounded in combat, then you have earned the award much like the point system that Mr. Norton finds somehow distasteful.

Finally, I personally would prefer the term “earned” applied to any recognition I received, because “earned” implies that I “deserved” the award. A number of executives at AIG, for example, were “awarded” huge bonuses, but whether they “earned” and therefore “deserved” those bonuses seems doubtful.

Our local hero, Morgan Bennett, “received” her medals after they were “awarded” – after they were “earned” – and they were certainly “deserved.”

Kent Hickman

Greenacres