So I was thinking about the Providence Firefighter who prepared a speech for the Black Lives Matter rally, and told his story for the local news. Then I was thinking about my former union’s president releasing a press release in support of that firefighter. Having stared down the barrel of a police officer’s gun not […]
Memorial Day I often think of the people whose lives ended violently, in a foreign land, far away from their friends and families. I imagine their last moments, maybe spent looking into the eyes of a person they may have known only a little while, but whose bond held them tighter than the blood shared […]
0800 I miss getting to work an hour early, picking up the paper from the ramp, the apparatus floor ghostly quiet, entering the boot room, smoke mixed with sweat and leather, gear lined up, squared away, waiting for bodies to fill it. I miss signing the accountability sheet, seeing who was already there, climbing the […]
By the time you are finished with your career in the fire service, everything about you will have changed. You will be old. You will be experienced. You will be confident, patient, and wise. Or, you will be old, disillusioned, angry, and bitter. The people with whom you started your career won’t be the same, […]
Lonely people don’t reach out. They don’t call the volunteer hotline. They don’t connect with Skype. If they were comfortable doing those things, they wouldn’t be lonely. What they do is get lonlier, and sink further into despair. These folks are not embracing their lives, or enjoying their existance. They survive. For many, their weekly […]