A Firefighter? Are You Sure That is What You Want to Be?

Since 9/11 lots of people hear something inside them that says they need to do something for their country, their community. Some folks look at military service as the answer. Many think law enforcement is their avenue. Then there are the people that see being a firefighter as the way to go. Not only does it seem to meet their need to serve, it satisfies a childhood dream. Be a firefighter. Be a local hero. It sound so glamorous

How do you tell someone what it is like to be a firefighter? It is like trying to tell someone who has never been married what it is like to be married. You can't. In a way it is a lot like being married. When you get married you make a commitment to something more important than yourself. When you get married it becomes a totally new way of life. When you get married you become an important part of an even more important team. When you get married you have to make critical decisions that have an impact on other people. When you get married you eat with your partner, you sleep with your partner, you go to different functions with your partner and most everything you do is after you think about your partner. Being a firefighter is exactly the same thing.

Most fire departments are like a family. They work together. They play together. They count on each other to know what to do. They count on each other to stay alive. They clean their quarters together. They learn together. Sometimes, like a family, they don't get along, but they are still family.

Firefighters are strange in so many ways. They run into hazardous situations when everyone else is running out. Firefighters do a job that very few people are able to do, and even fewer are willing to do. They share things with each other that they wouldn't share with anyone else in the world. They stick together. Maybe firefighter Jones just can not get along with firefighter Smith back at the station or when they are both at the mall at the same time. All of that changes when the alarm sounds. Anyone trying to harm firefighter Smith will have to go through every firefighter on the department first, including firefighter Jones.