Medic!!!

What do you think about when you think of Paramedics? Most people think of 911. I know I used to. Now my thoughts are a little deeper…because now…I am one.
   At most jobs, you are asked to fill out papers, clean this or that, or maybe wash this and that. At others, companies are held in the hands of a man hired to make decisions that they hope will strengthen and build the company further. Still others make a living by selling insurance or houses or cars… Am I making light of any of these jobs?? NO…because we support and are supported by these jobs every day.
   Still…what do you think about when you hear the term Paramedic. What comes to mind for me??? Let me tell you. It starts with half eaten meals sitting on a table or in the truck because we had to respond to a call. Waking up at night when the tones go off and instantly being awake and functional. Arriving to a house where I must make the decisions that will mean the difference between life and death for someone, who five minutes ago, was a stranger to me. There is no transition time between opening our eyes from a deep sleep and being in the truck and on scene. We are called to be non-judgmental clinicians for the sick and injured. No matter how stupid what you did was…we are there to help and comfort. We must be able to switch our care from that of dealing with the injured or ill patient and make the family our core focus. Just because the person we were called to care for may be dead, our job does not end.
   Medics themselves make a family. We are there together when things go well and when things go bad. Just like brothers there for sisters, you will seldom find a paramedic that will turn away someone who needs to talk. There is an understanding between us that we will not always save the day. We are not God and that is hard to deal with sometimes. If he put us here to help these people, then why couldn’t we save that person or this person? We often walk away thinking…that person was so young, or that person had a family. Notice I say person. Everyone is someone. From the high-rises downtown to the guy or girl sleeping behind the building hoping the police won’t see them and they can have a peaceful nap.
   Why do I say all of this…because everyone needs to understand that even we don’t always have a good day. Even we get angry, sad, or even cry. We are there when you need us. It is a 3 digit number away. Try saying thank you to the next paramedic you see…you might just make their day.

 

Copyright 2007

Brandon W. Crews

 

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..© 2007 All Rights Reserved.

Time

You learn at some point in your life that time is a constant.  It doesn’t falter, speed up, slow down, or care about anything that goes on in your life.  Every day, people are left to deal with the harsh realities that time leaves in its infinite wake.  We see it as the sun seems to fly over us during the day.  Then we realize at dawn that we should have gone to bed earlier as we wipe the sleep from our eyes and wish in vain that we had just a few more minutes to rest our weary bodies.  Ask any of the older people in your life if they feel as good as they did when they were twenty.  I’m fairly certain those people will tell you that time can be cruel and unfair.  From their persistent aching back to their replaced knees and hips, time has taken an irreversible toll on their bodies.

It seems too many people are left saying, “If I could have spent those last few minutes with my dad or mom, I would feel better about them being gone.  If I could have taken the time out of work to see my child play ball, they would know how important they are to me.  If I could have taken my wife to Las Vegas instead of constantly trying to save money, she would have one more unforgettable memory to share.  If I could have just taken the time to study for that final exam, I would have been accepted into that major university.”

Time waits for no man.  You probably recognize that line.  You might have heard it as death waits for no man.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Do you remember the last time you said, “I need to make time to do…?”  Did you really make time?  I would be willing to bet you did no such thing.  As a matter of fact, I will bet my life savings (see second paragraph) that you didn’t make any time for anything.  I think what you really did was take time away from something else so that you had time to accomplish whatever it was that needed doing then.  What did you take that time away from?  Was it a good sacrifice or a bad one.  You and you alone already know at this point whether having that time was worth the sacrifice.  However, by writing this, I am hoping that next time you are faced with such a situation, your hindsight will equip you with the necessary tools to make a wise decision.

I won’t leave you without giving you a few guiding thoughts for you to mull over during your next period of idleness.  Don’t take time away from you wife or children.  Don’t take time away from your family and friends.  Don’t take time away from yourself.  Everyone needs their alone time.  Don’t take time away from the things that make you happy (see wife, children, family, and friends).  Sacrifices will sometimes have to be made and priorities placed in their respectful place in line, but if you keep the things that are dear to you close to your heart, identifying those priorities will be much easier.

For any of you confused by the ramblings of my writing, you know, those who are wondering about all the typing you see in front of you, the point is, use your time wisely.  Time is much like words, you can’t get them back. Once gone, always gone.  Only you can decide how you spend your time.  No, time doesn’t wait for anyone, so we must be diligent in making the best of that time as possible.

 

Copyright 2007

Brandon W. Crews

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© 2007 All Rights Reserved.

Back to the Basics

Here it is.  Here is the point in my life where I must decide what the hell just happened.  I say “just”, what I really mean is, where did I go wrong and lose my way?  I know where now.  It has taken me years of dealing with things that I honestly thought I could deal with on my own and survive to come to the conclusion that the anger, fear, and let’s just say it, rage, is a direct result of the built up tensions inside my own spirit.  The build-up was slow.  There was no major change that anyone could notice, including myself.  Then people, at least those closest to me, started to notice that outwardly, things were starting to change.  Not to strangers, co-workers, classmates, and people of that nature, but to the people I loved.  I was short tempered, easy to anger, and when I did get mad, I just exploded into everything that I never wanted to be.  I didn’t hold my tongue when angry. I said what was on my mind, rude or not.  I said things to hurt my friends.  Notice I say my friends.  I have never been very close to my family, so they never got any of this toxic spillage.  It is said that friends are your chosen family.  Well, they received the brunt of it, and I am sorry to those people (you know who you are).  When I finally decided that maybe I was headed down a bad path, (insert Mencia’s Ditty or my “sign” provided by Bill Ingvall) it was almost too late.  No one should ever have to deal with what I was putting people through, especially because the person that was getting the worst of it IS my best friend and has never done anything to hurt me.  I can’t say the same thing.  I have hurt her, and sometimes I was trying.  What does that say about what anger can do to someone.  You could ask any of my friends that I hang out with on a regular basis and they would tell you they would never expect that kind of behavior from me.  Well guess what, even I am susceptible to the pain, anger, rage, and the torrent of emotions that accompany falling away from what made me who I was in the first place, and trying to forge on by myself.  What is it that I fell away from you ask?  That is easy.  GOD!  I used to believe that God led me in my path and that I was a better person for it.  I recently realized exactly how true that was.  I have been away far too long.  I didn’t have the “friend” that I used to have to take the burden from me when it was too much for me to handle.  God says He will never give you more than you can handle.  Never does He say you don’t have the personal choice to bring about your own demise, which I single handedly succeeded at for a long time.  He had always helped me keep things in check.  I can almost go back and pinpoint where everything that I believed was discarded and I took the world on by myself.  I can do that because now, years later, I know what to look for.  At the time though, I had no clue what was going on.  Is it any coincidence that God warns about that exact thing in the Bible.  Luckily for me, the path back to God is much shorter than the path that took me away.  So here I am, going back to the basics.  That is where I was happy.  My friends were happy to be around me.  I didn’t have this overwhelming feeling of anger that is triggered sometimes by the smallest things.  I wasn’t afraid of anything because I always knew I was never alone.  This is where I start all over.  Yes there will be apologies made, to many people, but especially to one person in particular.  The choices that I have made have effected many lives.  I still do the good stuff.  I still help people, say hi to strangers, open doors for ladies, and try to be the best person I can be to anyone in need of help.  But, I am also human.  I fail sometimes.  But I will never fail to the extent that I have this time again.  From here, the only way to go is up.  Could it have been worse, yes, much worse.  So I am by no means at the bottom with up being the only direction open to me.  This is a conscious choice that I will no longer be dragged down by the troubles that I let take over my life.  From here, the sun is shining through the recently passed rain clouds that just washed away the years of grime that had accumulated as a result of my fear and selfishness.  It shines brightly creating a rainbow that, for me, represents Gods promise that if I just stick by his side and trust in him, I don’t have to face anything alone ever again.  I don’t have to feel the way that I felt for so long.  From now on, I can be me.  You know, that someone who was happy and who I was proud to be.  It starts NOW!

Copyright 2007

 Brandon W. Crews