I’ve known him since he was born. When he was young he was close friends with my son and they often hung out together on my parent’s Christmas tree farm outside of Clarkesville. Whenever those two boys got together the conversation among us adults usually went something like this. “Uh, where are the boys?” “I thought you were watching them.” “They were right here a second ago.” And then, “Oh nooooo…” our voices trailing off as we rushed out the door in search of them.
We usually didn’t have to go far. More often than not we would find them in the backyard or my dad’s workshop engaged in some kind of mischief or cover up. Windows busted by baseballs (can’t imagine who did it), golf balls scattered throughout the farm (‘we’ll pick them up’…sure), spray paint on the sidewalk (why?). Once, they took the slide off the playset because they thought it would be more fun to jump seven-feet to the ground than to slide. That playset never was the same after that. Hatchets and hammers and screwdrivers and nails pretty much did it in. It went to the scrap yard when there was no ‘play’ left in its ‘set.’
Oh, and then there was that really nasty go-cart wreck that involved a sliced leg and stitches.
Yes, when those two boys got together we adults were always on guard. So imagine my surprise when I ran into this young boy, now a teenager, and discovered his dream is to become a firefighter. When he told me, I did a double-take. “Really?” I thought maybe it was a joke. I waited for the punch line. There wasn’t one. He really does want to become a firefighter; so much so, in fact, that at 17 he’s already working towards it. He’s in the Explorers Program which prepares young people for careers in public safety. By this time next year he could be a tested, trained, on-duty volunteer firefighter. “Hopefully I can volunteer for a couple of years and then, after college, I’ll be a full-time firefighter,” he told me. It can be dangerous work. I asked if that scares him, “It has at times,” he responded, “but I feel like it’s something I’ve always wanted to do and, hopefully, I can conquer it.” The confidence in his voice tells me he can.
I left our conversation thinking about the dangerous profession he’s chosen. It’s not the one I would have picked for him, nor, I’m sure, his mother, but it’s his life, his future, his choice.
That got me thinking about all of the other young men and women who choose similar career paths – firefighting, law enforcement, the military. The understandable satisfaction derived from helping others can quickly dissolve into the not-so-understandable possibility of sacrifice. Mothers, brothers, husbands, sisters, fathers and wives putting their lives on the line daily: Their families never knowing for certain, one day to the next, whether they’ll come home.
It’s a lot to wrap your head and heart around; why anyone would willingly, eagerly, choose such a dangerous job. It makes you pause and wonder, “Could I do that? Would I do that?”
Our public safety professionals pledge to serve, protect and defend us and we gladly let them. We despise those flashing blue lights when they’re in our rear view mirror but, oh, how we welcome them when we’re in trouble. We complain about fire insurance rates and tax dollars spent on new equipment but, oh, how we want those trucks and that water running when our house is burning down to the ground. We debate whether to approve a penny- on-the-dollar tax to replace old ambulances and support medical services but we expect that ambulance to arrive and those hospital doors to open when we need them.
Come to think of it, public safety work is not only dangerous, it can be thankless. When these professionals do their jobs right they receive little praise, but when something goes wrong, oh, how the critics swarm.
We hold our public safety officials to extra high standards. We expect and demand of them the utmost in professionalism and conduct. I believe that is fair given that so much lies in the balance. While most of us deal with deadlines and bottom lines on our jobs, these men and women deal with our lives, often standing in the gap between life and death. Yes, we should expect a lot from our public safety officials but we also should balance those expectations against the fact they are human. Mistakes will sometimes be made. Accidents will sometimes occur. As long as they are trained, professional and doing their best, honestly, what more can we expect? What more do we want? After all, they are doing what so many of us could not…would not…be willing or able to do ourselves.
I worry about my son’s friend’s chosen profession. I worry for his safety when he becomes a firefighter. But thank goodness there are people out there like him.
Thank goodness there are those who see fire and run to it rather than from it. Thank goodness there are those who race to help victims in accidents. Thank goodness there are those who stop us on the road to remind us it could be us in that wreck. Thank goodness there are those who calmly deal with frantic cries for help over the phone. Thank goodness there are those who fight terrorists on foreign soil and fight the bad guys here at home. Thank goodness, no, thank God, there are public safety professionals in our community who are willing to risk it all for all of us.
