once again

[Guest guest]

I've put this here before but there may be some new people who would like to

see it

<< " I Wish You Could See "

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 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 officers, firemen and EMT's

out, and when we call for them and our heart drops because no one answers

back, or to hear 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 a 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, who we are, or what our job really means

to us...I wish you could though.

-author unknown-