By Michael Morse
我不知道是否喜欢我的人，他们受过训练的人，并对他们的能力相信，可以与大多数人不同的方式伤亡。当我看到从我屏幕上的最新灾难，恐怖袭击或群众射击闪光灯的图像时，我的眼睛被吸引到救援人员，而不是受害者。我专注于手头的工作，而那人的人。我想知道他们在想什么，他们如何管理，他们忽略了什么情绪，以及他们如何应对。
I think of the people behind the uniforms and the mass of chemicals that are accumulating in their bodies; the adrenaline, cortisone, dopamine, and others I do not remember that give them the fortitude to perform in horrific conditions. I remember stepping over bodies of obviously dead people to get to the living, how sometimes I had to lie across a body to get to a victim, and waiting for the hydraulic rescue tools to free us. I remember thinking I was okay, it was part of the job, we all do it, we all survive, and we all do it again.
Little did I know I would never forget.
If who we become is a direct result of what we have done, it is imperative that we focus on the lives we saved, not the ones we stepped over. I do not see the face of the guy dead in the driver’s seat anymore; I see the girl in the passenger seat who survived. I even remember her name. The body is just that, in my mind anyway; I cannot think of him, I don’t think of him, he is gone, and we are not.
If there is one thing I know better than everything else, it is this: What we do may not define us, but it certainly shapes who we become. Our personalities are fluid; we never stop changing. Life experience changes us subtly; we do not notice those gradual shifts in perception. It is only when looking back, often through the eyes of the people who are actively responding to emergencies, that everything becomes clear: We are not hard; we are not machines; we are not tools to be used, put away, and used again until there is no more life left and a replacement is needed. We are human beings, made exactly like the people who need us.
当事情变得丑陋时，人类必须在那里。
And if not us, then who?
Who will they call when the bullets are hitting their targets?
When they are hunkered down, bleeding, dying.
When sirens in the distance are the only thing they have to hold on to.
When all is lost.
他们会打电话给谁？
They call us. First Responders. The Army isn’t coming, the Marines either. It’s their neighbors who respond, their fathers, their sisters, their friends. It’s the people they see at the market in their street clothes, the ones standing in line with them at the coffee shop, and the ones on duty, in uniform and prepared for the unimaginable. When their world descends to madness and nothing makes sense, we respond.
We are everywhere we are needed, nestled in neighborhoods, patrolling the streets, sitting on corners in our ambulances waiting for the call. We are in the crowd that comes under attack, never really off duty, once trained and experienced it matters not when we are needed, only that we are.
在悲剧罢工时，我们大多数人永远不会被召唤到大规模伤亡或出现。我们所有人都与我们一起携带了在紧急情况下行动的诀窍和存在。我们都不想要我们需要的培训，经验和举措。
This time it was Las Vegas. Every time it’s the police, the firefighters, and the EMTs running toward the gunfire. Somehow we make careers out of it and walk among our families, friends, and neighbors as if we are just like everybody else. But deep down I think every one of us knows that we are different. And if we don’t know it now, we will definitely find out.
Michael Morseis a former captain with the Providence (RI) Fire Department (PFD), an author, and a popular columnist. He served on PFD’s Engine Co. 2., Engine Co. 9, and Ladder Co. 4 for 10 years prior to becoming an EMT-C on Rescue Co 1 and Captain of Rescue Co. 5.
