9-11: Twelve Years Later – A Dozen Reasons to Thank Our Emergency Services Workers

Can you believe it has been 12 years since the 9-11 attacks?  Time certainly marches on.  Once again, I debated whether or not to post anything today.  It seems that so much has already been said, by people far more eloquent than I am.  But then I thought about everything the emergency services workers did that day. 

It seems that every year on this day we think about the first responders and all that they did and sacrificed, and then we move on to taking them for granted for another 364 days.  So here are a dozen reasons to thank our emergency services workers, including firefighters, police officers, 911 operators, paramedics, and EMTs, every day:

1.        They’re always there when we need them.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a holiday or the middle of the night.  They are there, and they will come when needed.

2.       911 operators sort through frantically delivered, sometimes woefully inaccurate and inadequate information to send the help we need.  And they remain calm while doing this.

3.       Firefighters will go into a place that everyone else is leaving.  When everyone’s instinct is to run, they go in to save lives and control damage.

4.       Paramedics and EMTs go straight into bad situations to help injured people, once again when most people want to leave, they go in to help.

5.       Police officers deal with the side of human nature that many of us prefer not to think about.  They see it up close and personal, and they make things a little safer for the rest of us.

6.       Often, these people continue to do their jobs, and go above and beyond, in spite of budget cuts that make their jobs harder.

7.       Many of us know what to expect on a given day at work and are offered a certain amount of safety.  They aren’t, but they still do the job.

8.       Some emergency services workers are volunteers.  They’re doing these things with no pay, on their time off.  Enough said.

9.       Even the paid ones aren’t in it for the money.  Google salaries for some of these positions to see what I mean.

10.   They will deal with something truly horrible, and when most of us would want to hide under the bed with some comfort food, they go back and do it all again tomorrow.

11.   Studies show that because of the schedules they work and the things they deal with, they are far more likely to develop stress related issues, including PTSD.  Yet they still do the job.

12.   They are very rarely thanked or recognized for any of this.