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I wish you could know what it is like to search a burning bedroom for
trapped children, flames rolling above your head, your palms and knees
burning as you crawl, the floor sagging under your weight as the kitchen
below you burns.
I wish you could comprehend a wife's horror at 3 in the morning as I check
her husband of 40 years for a pulse and find none. I start CPR anyway,
hoping to bring him back, knowing intuitively it is too late.
But wanting his wife and family to know everything possible was done to
try to save his life.
I wish you knew the unique smell of burning insulation, the taste of
soot-filled mucus, the feeling of intense heat through your turnout gear,
the sound of flames crackling, the eeriness of being able to see
absolutely nothing in dense smoke-sensations that I've become too familiar
with.
I wish you could understand how it feels to go to work in the morning
after having spent most of the night, hot and soaking wet at a multiple
alarm.
I wish you could read my mind as I respond to a building fire "Is this a
false alarm or a working fire? How is the building constructed? What
hazards await me? Is anyone trapped?" Or to an EMS call, "What is wrong
with the patient? Is it minor or life-threatening? Is the caller really
in distress or is he waiting for us with a 2x4 or a gun?"
I wish you could be in the emergency room as a doctor pronounces dead the
beautiful five-year old girl that I have been trying to save during the
past 25 minutes. Who will never go on her first date or say the words, "I
love you Mommy" again.
I wish you could know the frustration I feel in the cab of the engine,
squad, or my personal vehicle, the driver with his foot pressing down hard
on the pedal, my arm tugging again and again at the air horn chain, as you
fail to yield the right-of-way at an intersection or in traffic.
When you need us however, your first comment upon our arrival will be, "It
took you forever to get here!"
I wish you could know my thoughts as I help extricate a girl of teenage
years from the remains of her automobile. "What if this was my sister, my
girlfriend or a friend? What were her parents reaction going to be when
they opened the door to find a police officer with hat in hand?"
I wish you could know how it feels to walk in the back door and greet my
parents and family, not having the heart to tell them that I nearly did
not come back from the last call.
I wish you could know how it feels dispatching an officers, fireman and
EMT's out and when we call for them and our heart drops because no one
answers back or to here a bone chilling 911 call of a child or wife
needing assistance.
I wish you could feel the hurt as people verbally, and sometimes
physically, abuse us or belittle what I do, or as they express their
attitudes of "It will never happen to me."
I wish you could realize the physical, emotional and mental drain or
missed meals, lost sleep and forgone social activities, in addition to all
the tragedy my eyes have seen.
I wish you could know the brotherhood and self-satisfaction of helping
save a life or preserving someone's property, or being able to be there in
time of crisis, or creating order from total chaos.
I wish you could understand what it feels like to have a little boy
tugging at your arm and asking, "Is Mommy okay?" Not even being able to
look in his eyes without tears from your own and not knowing what to say.
Or to have to hold back a long time friend who watches his buddy having
rescue breathing done on him as they take him away in the ambulance. You
know all along he did not have his seat belt on. A sensation that I have
become too familiar with.
Unless you have lived with this kind of life, you will never truly
understand or appreciate who I am, we are, or what our job really means to
us...I wish you could though.
-author unknown-
PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW AND KEEP SENDING IT ON.
APPRECIATE AND SUPPORT THE LOCAL EMS WORKERS,
FIREFIGHTERS, &
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS IN YOUR AREA. ONE DAY THEY'LL
PROBABLY
BE SAVING YOUR PROPERTY OR YOUR OWN LIFE.
WHEN YOU SEE THEM COMING WITH LIGHTS FLASHING, MOVE OUT OF
THE WAY
QUICKLY.
THEN PRAY FOR THEM.
These Pictures are from the
Bridgeport Volunteer Fire
Department web site.
Live Laugh Love
and most of all ---
Smile :)
Please visit my other page dedicated to
those who serve
Alone in My Heart |
