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Well Said, Michael!!!!!!!
Mike Smith
(how was that Mark?)
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, September 08, 2002 5:13
AM
Subject: The Mercy Air crash
Yet another crash.
Three more fallen comrades.
After 24 years in EMS and 10 in Air-Medical
Transport and Critical Incident Stress Management, it never gets easier, if
anything it becomes harder. I did not know the crew members personally
and yet, like so many others, I think we all knew them at a deeper
level.
After 9-11 the word “Hero” was tossed about
indiscriminately. I resist calling our departed comrades heroes,
to do so dishonors their sacrifice. A hero is someone who
performs heroic actions out of the ordinary without truly understanding the
danger of their actions. This crew knew the dangers, they lived with it
every shift and yet they came back to work each day, not because they wanted
to be heroes, but because it was the job they loved. Like the rest
of us I am confident they did not see themselves as heroes either. They,
and the rest of us, were simply men and women who worked very hard to get into
a position where they could help others while meeting their personal goals to
achieve, grow and become the very best at what they loved doing,
flying.
While we mourn the deaths of our brothers and sisters we should
also celebrate their lives and try to find some solace, however slight, in the
fact they died doing what they loved while trying to help others. Their
very existence personified the Air Force Pararescue motto; “That Others
Might Live.”
To often we have all seen death without purpose
bringing to an end so many lives without meaning. There can be no higher
purpose than service to others. Regardless of the cause of the crash,
our comrades died while fulfilling the noble purpose of living a life of
service few civilians will ever truly understand.
If you pray, join
with me in a prayer for our friend’s families and loved ones. Pray that
they will receive the strength and courage they will need to get through this
horrible time in their lives. Pray the sacrifices this crew made will
not simply be another news blip, here today, forgotten tomorrow. Pray
that it is a long, long time before the next crash.
Join me in
celebrating our brothers and sisters by renewing our dedication to their, and
our, profession. Honor them by putting safety above all else. Each day
before you go on shift remember them by hugging those you care about and
telling them “I love you.” God forbid, but one day it may be the last
time they hear it from you.
I salute my departed comrades at
Mercy Air. I send my sincerest condolences to their families. I
mourn with their devastated team members and I pray for divine protection for
us all.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends.” John 15:13
Michael Cox,
EMT-P, RN
Florida Flight 1
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