Member-only story
Quotable Articles #28
The Courage of Firefighters
How a group of men and women taught me how to be courageous
I said goodbye to the big red trucks a while ago now, and while I won’t likely ever put bunker gear on again the lessons I learned there are still a big part of my life. There is a part of me that will always be a firefighter — a fact that I was reminded of much to my chagrin a few days ago while returning home from a new year’s eve night out with my girlfriend.
We were on our way to search for the Northern Lights, something that has become one of our routines on the rare nights when they’re visible and we don’t have a 7 year-old to look after. As we came up a hill towards an intersection, I immediately saw that something was wrong — cars were lined up at the cross street, a car was stopped in the middle of the intersection, and there was a crowd of people in front of the car.
Before I could consciously process what was happening, I’d put the car in park, said “I think someone got hit” to my girlfriend, and was out the door and on my way to the middle of the commotion.
My old training kicked in — for better or for worse — and I went into response mode.
I say for better or for worse because it has been a few years since I’ve refreshed…
