~ I WISH YOU COULD SEE ~
~I wish you could see
the sadness of a business man as his livelihood goes up in
flames, or that family returning home, only too find their house
and belongings damaged or lost for good. I wish you could know
what it is like too 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 3:00 A.M. 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 too try too 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 fire. 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 too
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 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 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 of 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~
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