I wish you could see the sadness of a business man
As his livelihood goes up in flames,
Or that family returning home,
Only to find their house and belongings
Damages or lost for good.
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 am
As I check her husband of 40 years for a pulse and find none,
I start CPR anyways, hoping to bring him back,
Knowing intuitively it is too late,
Bur wanting his wife and family to know everything
Possible was done to try to save his life.
I wish you know 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 and 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 word,
“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 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 no come back from the last call.
I wish you could feel the hurt as people verbally,
And sometime 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 times 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?”
Nor 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_
