The Cold, Hard Truth About Firefighters
Tonight our volunteer fire department responded to a pretty large house fire. My first inclination is to say that we made a really awesome fire but then I have to stop myself. What's really great for us as firefighters is pretty darn devestating to the person we are responding to help. I mean, tonight a family lost their house and all of their possessions. What a terrible tragedy for them.
Another thing that seems so natural for us but in reality is probably really wrong, is that we like to take pictures of these scenes. We like to capture the work that we do. So, when the fire was out and we were all standing around the front yard still fully bunkered out and someone breaks out with a camera, our first response is to pose together as group. As I was standing there posing with my fellow firefighters, I couldn't help but wonder, should I smile? Should I act serious? What do I do? Someone's house is totally desimated behind us and here we are smiling like we just won the lottery. It was a real paradoxical moment for me.
I remember thinking when I was down in New Orleans how great it felt to be down there in the nitty gritty of it all. I remember taking tons of pictures with my fellow chaplains and smiling in most of the pictures. I also remember asking myself those same questions. Here we were walking around death and destruction and we were happy to be there and we took tons of photos like we were tourists. It's crazy I know.
Tonight as we were coming back from the fire, I kept thinking about this. To the outside world, we must look like cold and uncaring individuals, but these feelings and these photos go much deeper than the public could ever know. Yeah, we do love a good fire. There is nothing like seeing the beast of fire rip through and then whip and rage 10 feet above a rooftop. It gets the adrenaline flowing. But all in all, it really comes down to seeing how much we can save. How can we knock the beast out of power. How can we salvage as much of those people's lives as we can? We really do care. That beast of fire is the bad guy and we are so incredibly honored to come riding in on our red and white trucks to save civilians from it. And the pictures we take? We just want to remember that we all made it out alive. No one was hurt and that we did our best. We want to celebrate the frienships and the bond that we have with each other.
When it comes down to it, we care deeply about the people we serve. We really love the work we do even though it's incredibly painful for those we are trying to help. Our love for the work is about serving our fellow man. And if it came down to it, we would lay our lives down for another. So really, we aren't cold. We may seem a little calloused at times, but that is our coping mechanism for seeing too much bad stuff. But deep down underneath all of the bunker gear and under the tough image, there lies a heart of gold.
Another thing that seems so natural for us but in reality is probably really wrong, is that we like to take pictures of these scenes. We like to capture the work that we do. So, when the fire was out and we were all standing around the front yard still fully bunkered out and someone breaks out with a camera, our first response is to pose together as group. As I was standing there posing with my fellow firefighters, I couldn't help but wonder, should I smile? Should I act serious? What do I do? Someone's house is totally desimated behind us and here we are smiling like we just won the lottery. It was a real paradoxical moment for me.
I remember thinking when I was down in New Orleans how great it felt to be down there in the nitty gritty of it all. I remember taking tons of pictures with my fellow chaplains and smiling in most of the pictures. I also remember asking myself those same questions. Here we were walking around death and destruction and we were happy to be there and we took tons of photos like we were tourists. It's crazy I know.
Tonight as we were coming back from the fire, I kept thinking about this. To the outside world, we must look like cold and uncaring individuals, but these feelings and these photos go much deeper than the public could ever know. Yeah, we do love a good fire. There is nothing like seeing the beast of fire rip through and then whip and rage 10 feet above a rooftop. It gets the adrenaline flowing. But all in all, it really comes down to seeing how much we can save. How can we knock the beast out of power. How can we salvage as much of those people's lives as we can? We really do care. That beast of fire is the bad guy and we are so incredibly honored to come riding in on our red and white trucks to save civilians from it. And the pictures we take? We just want to remember that we all made it out alive. No one was hurt and that we did our best. We want to celebrate the frienships and the bond that we have with each other.
When it comes down to it, we care deeply about the people we serve. We really love the work we do even though it's incredibly painful for those we are trying to help. Our love for the work is about serving our fellow man. And if it came down to it, we would lay our lives down for another. So really, we aren't cold. We may seem a little calloused at times, but that is our coping mechanism for seeing too much bad stuff. But deep down underneath all of the bunker gear and under the tough image, there lies a heart of gold.
posted by Wendy at 10:37 PM
1 Comments:
hi, found your blog from 2 peas. Just want to congrat you on the journal to adoption! Especially a baby that you will be given a great life too. Kudos to you and your hubby. Hugs!
Michelle
Post a Comment
<< Home