A Labor Day Tribute to the First Responder
What a Summer!
Here we are. The last big holiday weekend of the summer and what a summer it’s been!
Many of you have endured multiple days of record heat and humidity. For others, you’ve trudged through raging flood waters providing comfort while saving lives with heroic rescue skills with the ease of a superhero.
That’s what you are.
A superhero!
Not the cape wearing, flying, swooshing wonder of Hollywood. But you are truly a superhero to someone who has been blessed by your skills, your caring and your tenacity to survive as a Fire/EMS everyday hero.
Labor
Look up the definition of labor and you’ll find the dictionary simply says this…
LABOR- work- especially hard physical work
Let’s face it. Your role as a first responder is hard work!
Take this weekend, for example. While many others are poised to be enjoying a 3-day, or most-likely 4-day weekend judging by the empty parking spots we passed on our way to the office this Friday, in all likelihood you’ll be pulling time in the field. In fact, it’s these holiday weekends that push our staffing resources to the limits and call for us to fill slots for special events meant to celebrate the American worker.
On the volunteer side of the equation, there will be those of you who just sit down for a nice family barbeque and the pager will trip. Off you’ll run and return to a cold hamburger and hours missed with family and friends that you cannot regain.
But, you do it anyway. Because it’s your mission.
A Synonym
One of the synonyms for labor is the word mission.
What drives a first responder? In a word it’s the mission.
Saving lives and making a difference in the lives of those that surround us IS your mission. It’s not something you do just to do it. You invest your life- a life of training, learning, long hours and mostly little recognition because you signed-up and accepted this mission.
The holiday that we know as Labor Day, began as an upstart of an Industrial Age working man’s (and woman’s and child’s) backlash. The late 1800’s saw American take root as the world’s industrial giant, but for the laborer it was a tough go.
A 7-day, 12-hour per day work week in unsafe conditions spawned the labor movement and the rise of the labor union. While a day to pause and celebrate the worker had gained traction in several States, it wasn’t until 1894 that President Grover Cleveland pushed for Congress to declare a day in September to become the national holiday we now use to unofficially close-out summer. Cleveland offered the initiative as an olive branch after unsuccessfully trying to break a costly rail strike
Celebrating You!
And so we arrive at yet another Labor Day.
Labor Day 2018 is a cause for celebration. We celebrate you as a first responder. Whether or not you get the chance to pause and reflect, just know that without you countless lives would be lost. Consider that there are those who lived to have another holiday gathering with those they love because you stood in the balance between “the Reaper” and the very life they enjoy.
On possibly one person’s worst day ever, you were the light that shined in the darkness. And maybe what you did didn’t make the news and the persons you help may never remember your name. But, rest assured, your kindness and compassion remain burned in their memories for all of the remainder of their existence.
Thank you for all that you do each and every day.
From all of us at Quick Med Claims, thank you for allowing us to be a part of your success story!
Happy Labor Day and above all be safe!!
