Brothers in Arms

I've always been the kind of person who wants to give back to the community. As someone who benefits from many community activities, I personally feel it's important to give back to others that give to me.

So when I went on call today at my local Ambulance station, I stood on standby as I saw firefighters go into a burning building. It was rather boring for me, just sitting there watching people and not doing anything. (Keep in mind that I'm an adrenaline-craving teenager who needs to be satisfied with stuff like big, fiery explosions and other assorted things of that nature.) Nonetheless, something bothered me. Yes, there was a fire going on, but everybody got out OK. What really bugged me was the lack of comraderie in our services these days. And to be honest, it's not just in firefighting anymore. Even in EMS, there is no brotherhood, no alliance, no cadre of people who you can go out for drinks with after a long, hard day on the job. Plain and simple, it's just not there.

People have noticed, too. Is it just in the water here? Why is it in some towns and not in others? In New York, several towns got together and donated a fire truck to their buddies in the Marten River Fire Dept. in Canada. In other countries around the world, too, it happens. But it seems here in America, too many people are concerned with me, not we. It seems that way, at least. I know I can't speak on behalf of the entire country. Maybe it's just the way that media persuades us. But maybe, just maybe if we just took the time, just a couple of hours out of every day, to get to know each other more, not by Facebook, Twitter, or text messaging, but instead by actually talking to these people, we would regain the sense of brotherhood that has been missing for some time now.


That's just how I feel.

-Doug