Today, as I bear witness to what can only be described as a monumentally epic outpouring of love and support for Bryan Stow, a few thoughts cross my mind. Bear with me on this.
Emergency Medical Services has always been an entity on the periphery of public service. We operate in the shadow of the big dogs, police and fire. We go into EMS knowing this. Some complain that we don't get respect, others find solace in the relative quiet of the business. I have always fancied myself the latter. I have taken it upon myself to educate the public about what we do one patient at a time and no faster than that. When I hold your grandmother's hand and help her to relax as I alleviate her difficulty breathing, or listen intently to grandpa's stories from when he served under General Patton and lost a few of his fingers from frostbite while hiding in a hole dodging Nazi artillery shells, or I calm a hysterical mother when her baby is having a seizure from a fever, this is how I operate.
Today put to rest any doubt about how the general public feels about us. It is quite apparent that people are good and decent, and appreciate what we sacrifice for them. For this I will endeavor to complain less about the monotony and minutia of the things that blow donuts about this often times lousy profession. Instead I will be more thankful to the public I have chosen to serve. I've got their backs, and today I know they have mine.
This brings up my ever present pessimistic side. I consider what happened today at the fundraiser as Bryan's gift to the EMS community. I have no doubt that Bryan would be completely floored at what was accomplished in his name. I have to ask myself: Was the price for that gift too high? In my biased opinion as a friend, I say yes. I would give all of this goodwill back in a heartbeat to have Bryan back on a downtown San Jose rig, bitching about running the same people to the same hospital over and over again, or making any manner of rude and inappropriate comments. I just miss him I guess. Call me biased, I won't be mad.
Scott
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