Our job is to save lives
as many lives as we can, at the cost of our own if need be
There is no logic to this
and damned little glory
but there is honour
and there is tradition
and that's enough
Run Sheet
01/09/13
Our job is to save lives
as many lives as we can, at the cost of our own if need be
There is no logic to this
and damned little glory
but there is honour
and there is tradition
and that's enough
There are hundreds of my brothers and sisters laying in the rubble of those goddamned buildings. Many, most in fact are dead. Some are still alive. Not for long I fear.
Outside though, there is an army of emergency workers running themselves beyond human endurance, moving the rubble with machinery, tools and with their bare hands to get to them. There are people inside, and there is a bond that surpasses blood, race, creed or religion at work, there is a bond of love that cannot be defined. There is trust and belief at work there. There is a visceral knowledge, a cosmic truth that cannot be defied.
"We don't leave anyone inside"
Every one of those men and women outside who are digging know they are very unlikely to witness a miracle, tough I'm certain there will be a few.
They are digging because there are still Firefighters inside, and they will dig until they are all out, dead or alive, and their fellow Firefighters will carry them out. It's as simple as that.
I will likely be hung in effigy when I say this, but those Firefighters are not heroes.
They are Firefighters. That is
what we do, because that is what we have always done.
On Sunday I gave a welcoming speech
to a group of new recruits, I ended it with the words I always use.
"Remember this throughout your training, then remember it throughout your career. We fight until the fight is over. . We never do nothing. We NEVER leave our brothers behind and WE NEVER QUIT! That is how we live and that is how we die."
I'm still watching my brothers and sisters working because there are people inside. I'm watching them staggering from exhaustion and overwork. I'm watching them drag themselves back to work yet again and again. Heroes? some say so, but heroes are people going beyond what is expected of them. This, is exactly what is expected of the Firefighters.
There is only one thing keeping
anyone alive inside that wreckage, that is the sure and certain knowledge
that there is someone is coming for them. If it isn't the Firefighters
it will be no one. There is no line of defense past us.
If you call any one of us a hero,
we will laugh in your face. We'll tell you that we are Firefighters.
***
We need to remember that this is not the act of a people, nor a religion. This is the act of a group of fanatics. This is not a crime perpetrated by the Muslims or the Arabs, this is not a black, brown, yellow or white crime. We must not demand punishment for anyone but those who committed the crime or assisted it. We cannot become fanatics ourselves.
This is a crime perpetrated by murderers. Those murderers and those who supported them are guilty of this crime, not the Muslim or Arab that we work with or meet on the street. Those we live with came here for the most part to escape the hatred and fanaticism fuelling that inferno.
As hard as it will sometimes be,
we must remember that our strength, and resolve is smoke in the wind without
caring, compassion and love for our fellow humans.
