Don't Wait to be a Hero!

Growing up in a volunteer fire department taught me two very good lessons that I would like to share with you. The first lesson would be that the people who do decide to be a volunteer EMT or firefighter do not always come from glamorous backgrounds. We have members in the department who are plumbers, teachers, work in pest control, nurses, paid fireman and Emt's as well as FBI agents. The thing is that no matter what your job is or what you do outside of the department. How much money you make, it does not matter. A person who works in Pest control is treated no different than our business owners or FBI agents. They are all there to get the job done, which is to help save people's lives.

Another lesson I learn is that even though people on the outside of the department see us as being heroes. From fighting in fires to saving someone's life when they have a heart attack. We do not see ourselves that way. We do the volunteer work out of the kindness of our heart and we realize just like in the video called "Mark Bezos: A life lesson from a volunteer firefighter" that it does not have to be a big call that we will make a difference by doing. It can be those calls where it may just be what some may say a minor call like a drunk or the flu or cold, to us we know that we have made a difference in that person's life, even if it is just for the night. By us just being there, or being able to truly help the person in their time of need.


An image I saw maybe about a year ago, helps to truly show how we feel. That image is-

 

 

This image I believe truly explains why we do what we do. Other people may not truly understand why we do it for free. It becomes such a rewarding experience just knowing that we did a good job. We were able to make the world a better place as a fireman, EMT, or Paramedic. Another lesson you learn is that you should never expect a "Thank You" from someone. Granted it is nice to get, the people have other things on their mind when we see them. So you need to be able to do the work without necessarily getting the recognition for it.

 

 

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