Some sayings in our culture require little explanation. Others help if you have a visual image to go along with them. I was witness to just such an occasion and, as a result, will no longer be using the phrase at the end of this post.
As responders we like to tell ourselves that we've seen it all, that there is nothing that will surprise us. A wall goes up and at the same time a morbid curiosity begins to grow within, almost challenging us to seek out something more extreme.
Other times the more extreme is waiting for you on the sidewalk in front of a local market.
Just when you think that curiosity has passed, the universe, God, fate, whatever you believe steps in and reminds us that we are but watchers. No matter how kind we are to strangers, no matter who we try to help, there is a section of the population that does not exist on the same plane. They do not process right and wrong in a manner that allows them to fit within a society.
Their solution to someone breaking up a fight they are in is to start another one. Only this one escalates quickly, and our new friend is caught off guard...5 times.
By the time we arrive the damage has been done but the crews work quickly and the damage is contained.
"Why?" he wispers from beneath the non-rebreather mask while lying prone on the cot.
"Try not to talk" the medic tells him.
Someone stabbed him in the back.
As responders we like to tell ourselves that we've seen it all, that there is nothing that will surprise us. A wall goes up and at the same time a morbid curiosity begins to grow within, almost challenging us to seek out something more extreme.
Other times the more extreme is waiting for you on the sidewalk in front of a local market.
Just when you think that curiosity has passed, the universe, God, fate, whatever you believe steps in and reminds us that we are but watchers. No matter how kind we are to strangers, no matter who we try to help, there is a section of the population that does not exist on the same plane. They do not process right and wrong in a manner that allows them to fit within a society.
Their solution to someone breaking up a fight they are in is to start another one. Only this one escalates quickly, and our new friend is caught off guard...5 times.
By the time we arrive the damage has been done but the crews work quickly and the damage is contained.
"Why?" he wispers from beneath the non-rebreather mask while lying prone on the cot.
"Try not to talk" the medic tells him.
Someone stabbed him in the back.
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