由Brian Brush
我碰到这张照片由消防摄影师格伦·杜达（Glenn Duda）（www.allhandsworking.com），这使我背上。我一直在抱怨最平凡的事情，乞求大电话 - 我甚至说我厌倦了花很多时间训练and preparing and no time being truly tested.What a fool I am!我很确定这位消防员会给这个毫无生气的孩子换成PowerPoint®演示文稿。我也知道，作为父母，我无法想象有人想被我的家人被困在房屋大火中“测试”。我完全失去了我在这里的目的。这项工作不是要证明某事。我唯一需要证明的是，让我的噩梦不需要我的动力。就测试而言，每天都有挫败感的小物件在这张照片中盯着我们的任务分散注意力。
我应该祈祷这张照片中没有任何家庭或消防员在捕获的情况下。同时, I must recognize that when I took this job I swore to service and acknowledged that this call could be my next one. Because of the gravity of the first and the potential of the second, I must do everything in my power to be prepared physically and mentally. In the end, the only thing I can imagine that would be worse than walking this child out of her house, in front of her parents, to a waiting ambulance would be to think that I wasn’t her best chance. I am not too perfect to admit that this slap in the face, this gain of perspective, won’t be permanent. It was just a few years ago that one of our firefighters carried the body of a seven-year-old out of a house fire, in front of his parents, to my ambulance, and yet I still have sunk to this level. Maybe it is that similarity that made this photo sting so bad. I considered myself a professional, committed to the fire service and well prepared for what may come my way. One picture and a reflection back to how easily I have forgotten how I felt the night I saw this with my own eyes has me questioning how I measure things.
“当一个人成为消防员，他最大的英勇行为已经实现。之后他所做的一切都是在工作中。”Chief Edward Croker put this to rest in 1918. Committing to this profession, paid or volunteer, is where it starts. From there, a good firefighter isn’t measured by his time on the floor above; it is how he handles himself in between. A good firefighter has a heart full of pride and dedication regardless of his station assignment and call volume. These are the firefighters pushing themselves in a gym, on the drill ground, or in a classroom because they refuse to wait on the real world. The best firefighters are those who proudly embrace the profession as one of preparation, knowing full well we do battle with complacency and egos more frequently than we ever fight fire.
我不知道这张照片是否会成为你。我希望它再也不会走了，但是今天也很容易。最好的做法是坚持我们所知道的，并在怀疑时互相警察。辛勤工作总是有回报，成为我们最好的机会是他们最好的机会。
Brian Brushis a lieutenant assigned to Company 10 at West Metro Fire Rescue in Lakewood, Colorado. He began his fire service career in 1996 in Northern California as a volunteer. He has a bachelor’s degree in fire and emergency services administration and an associate degree in paramedicine.
