Reviving the hero complex

When you signed up to be a firefighter, you sacrificed the luxury of a normal existence.

Though there were other, more mundane, careers available to you, you chose this one. Part of you must have craved the path less traveled and more exciting. You rebel, you.

You could have sat behind a desk. And you still can.

When you show up to serve, whether it be on a volunteer or paid basis, you choose this. “Choose” as an active verb, not past tense.

This is merely a reminder. I’m not here to shame or blame. Whatever battle scars you wield from being a firefighter, remember that it’s a choice. Every day, it’s a choice. Because it’s easy to forget that and feel trapped, unhappy, and dissatisfied with what you are doing.

It’s easy to forget you are a hero, or deny yourself the title, and turn into a salty burnout. And it’s really easy to look at this as just another job, detach yourself, and quit caring.

When you signed up to be a firefighter, you sacrificed the luxury of a normal existence.

You have the privilege of being a hero in a world where there aren’t many heroes left.

Even if those courageous situations mean transporting your least favorite, sloppy drunk Tony to the nearest hospital AGAIN, where he will be met by a zombie emergency room staff hoping to discharge him as quickly as possible.

Even if means listening to your Battalion Chief burp into his radio mic for the hundredth time.

Even if it means dragging your exhausted butt back home to your family and letting them run you ragged for your four-day so you can think of yourself as a decent parent.

You have the privilege of witnessing catastrophe and the raw underbelly of chaos. That is an honor normally reserved for God. What you do with that experience – how it shapes you – depends on you. Membership in this elite group of humans is the highest form of dedication.

The hero chooses. The victim accepts.

Victims are in the wrong place at the wrong time because they are. Heroes choose to be there.

Be the hero. Nobody needs to give you permission except you.