Dream or Nightmare?

 

It was a dream that he had before, but it was worse tonight and it had become more frequent in the last year.

 

He was a fire instructor and a student of the fire service always. He was becoming more and more disturbed as he read the trade journals and heard some of the nationally known renowned speakers talk about the hazards of the job.

 

He knew the job was hazardous as he had been injured before himself although never seriously and he was always mindful that there is no absolutely "safe" fireground. If you go to fires you assume some risk.

 

In his dream he believed that he was trying to be realistic in his teachings....but even he had shown pictures of firefighter funerals and tributes.

 

In this dream he sits wondering why if fires are down nationally why we still kill 100 persons every year and injure some 90,000. If fires really are down, does this actually mean that with greater safety standards and better equipment and gear we still kill the same number? That almost means we are getting more dangerous doesn't it?

 

In his dream he thinks about the 343 we just lost in FDNY. He has replayed that one a thousand times in his head like every other Jake in America and he is convinced that there were not any errors there. Nobody expected catastrophic collapse of those towers. This is not the type of case he is thinking about in his dream.

 

In fact he is thinking about fire instructors who may be portraying the fact either by word or actions that it is OK to die. That dying is a part of our job that is OK and we will give you a tribute that no other can compare to. We will have thousands of firefighters there and the pipes will play and flag draped coffins and aerial ladders raised to the sky draped with the colors of our country.

 

There is a difference between paying tribute to fallen comrades and telling the living that it is OK.

 

We should pay the highest honors to those who have sacrificed.

We should learn something by each and every firefighter fatality.

 

We need to take risks after assessing hazards that are present. We need a fire service of thinking risk takers.

 

In his dream he is becoming more restless as he prepares for his class that he is going to instruct....has he ever taught or passed on the message that it is OK to die. He is unsure if he had. In his effort to try to be realistic has he too glorified the death of firefighters?

 

He wanted to make sure that he did not do that....this is a horrible thought. The dream was getting worse... he is being punished for that....

 

OH NO! as he is dreaming that he is preparing for his class there is a knock at the door. He opens it and it is his worse fear. The mother superior of all fire instructors is there. It is a nun from his grammar school Sister Mary Migraine from Our Lady of the Helpless Causes School! She even has her ruler in hand!

 

Now Peter....it seems as though you have led some firefighters to believe that dying is an acceptable to die. No, No I haven't really....I pleaded. Well maybe you haven't she said, but I am here and you are here so you will be punished for all fire instructors and you must carry the punishment message to all of them to make sure this never happens.

 

Magically from under habit she pulled out a six foot blackboard and two boxes of that crummy white chalk. (Hey, it's my dream and I can't be the only one who wondered what was under all those habits!)

The she said you must write this phrase 1000 times....

 

It is not OK for firefighters to die, it is not acceptable.It is not OK for firefighters to die, it is not acceptable.It is not OK for firefighters to die, it is not acceptable.It is not OK for firefighters to die, it is not acceptable.It is not OK for firefighters to die, it is not acceptable.It is not OK for firefighters to die, it is not acceptable.It is not OK for firefighters to die, it is not acceptable.It is not OK for firefighters to die, it is not acceptable.It is not OK for firefighters to die, it is not acceptable.It is not OK for firefighters to die, it is not acceptable.It is not OK for firefighters to die, it is not acceptable.It is not OK for firefighters to die, it is not acceptable.It is not OK for firefighters to die, it is not acceptable.It is not OK for firefighters to die, it is not acceptable.It is not OK for firefighters to die, it is not acceptable.It is not OK for firefighters to die, it is not acceptable.It is not OK for firefighters to die, it is not acceptable.It is not OK for firefighters to die, it is not acceptable.It is not OK for firefighters to die, it is not acceptable.

 

Stop it....Stop It I can't take it anymore!

I will make sure that I never convey that message anymore I began to become more restless as I wrote it over and over again.....but wait this was only a dream, I was really preparing for a class before.....I will read one of my trade journals..that will get her out of my head and my dream.

 

I began to thumb through one of my professional trade journal periodicals that I get and Sister Mary Migraine began to fade as I got absorbed in all the pages of technical information and as I thumbed farther through I turned a page in the classified section and let out a blood curdling scream..............In a trade journal you could buy a special coffin decorated with firefighter murals to honor your heroes!

 

It is a nightmare! It is worse than I ever could have imagined.

 

I woke up sweating in a panic......

 

Boy I hope I never have to have that dream again.