September 11, 2001 -- and the sacrifices made since

As I sit here and write this, I know I remember exactly where I was on September 11, 2001 when I heard the news that something bad had happened in the America. Two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, one into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia and another one into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

I was sitting in my second period class during my freshman year of high school. Health Occupations in (what we called) the "old-old" building. Couldn't tell you the room number but it was an earth science room -- I always felt dirty in there and I hated it in there. Ms Smith was my teacher and there were only 9 other people in the class. It was nice. Someone had come in about 9:30 and told us what had happened and we turned on the TV and watched. However, about 10:15, the principal came on the PA system and made an announcement to let everyone know because half of the seniors were getting ready to leave for lunch (at 10:30 -- really early lunch times) and I suppose he didn't want a panic to start (at least one to start from the seniors). And that's how I found out. I'm sure you can recall "your story".

Now, instead of talking about the attacks and how they affected me, I'm going to switch gears. I am now in public safety as a paramedic. I want to set this straight: I did not get into EMS because of what happened or because of the public safety lives lost that day. But, that is what I want to address:

The thing about the attacks that people continue to talk about is the planes that flew into the buildings, the destruction of the buildings, the 3000+ innocent lives lost, the heroics of the people on the plane that crashed into the field in Shanksville, the wars in the Middle East that have come from the attacks on America soil, etcetera, etcetera. And while all of these things are true and I don't want to make anything less of these things -- I want to point of something that is often forgotten and left behind and something I rarely, if ever hear about: the lives of the firefighters, EMTs, paramedics and police officers that were lost on that day.

There were 343 members of the fire services died that day. Along side of them, 8 members of private ambulance services and 60 law enforcement officers that perished that day. Those people went into these areas to save people -- all while countless thousands were running in the opposite direction. They ran into the danger, knowing it was a hazardous environment. They went to work that morning hoping to go home to their families but never made it back.

We go to work knowing that we take on risks. That is part of the job. Our jobs are dangerous. Police officers deal with violent offenders and people who just don't like them. Fire fighters deal with unsound structures that they have solid evidence people are in and they want to do their very best to rescue them from the fire. EMTs and paramedics deal with people on drugs and alcohol and other violent people. And this does not even begin to scratch the surface of the dangerous situations each of us face on a daily basis at work. But we know this is part of the job. The only thing we want and that our families want is for us to safely get through our shift and go home at the end of it.

Since that day, there have been many line of duty deaths from the fire department, law enforcement and EMS. That person went to work, did their job and hoped to go home to their family -- but, instead, their family received terribly news that something bad had happened to them. I don't want any family to ever have to get that phone call -- ever (and, if I may be selfish for a moment, particularly mine).

But, most of all, I never want that person to ever be forgotten. I never want what they did to be forgotten. I never want their legacy to be forgotten. I never want their passion for their job to be forgotten. I never want their sacrifice to be forgotten.

I want them to always be remembered for who they were -- not just as a "firefighter", a "police officer", an "EMT" or a "paramedic" but as a person. What they liked and disliked. Something about their family and where they grew up. I want them to be remembered as a whole person and not just as a name or a title. I want them to mean something to the general public. I want a face to be put with the name. I want a connection to be made so that this "person" isn't just "another person".

When people ask me what it is that I do and I tell them that I'm a paramedic, they tell me that it takes a "special person" to do what I do. If that's the case, let's show people how special these people really are. We are no ordinary people. We run into something when the "ordinary people" run out. Explain who we were. Give us a face. Say what we were like. Show us to the world. We don't want fame -- but let us be remembered.