Ever found yourself in the role of first responder at an automobile accident? Ever wonder how you would respond if you did? Do you see yourself as the heroic superman...pulling victims from flaming wreckage with one hand as you direct the Interstate traffic with the other? Or do you see yourself frozen in indecision.
These question popped into my mind last week at the TxDOT conference in College Station, as the "Extra Mile" citations were handed out to a few TxDOT employees who had found themselves in that situation and responded.
As for me, I have found myself in the first responder role twice, and surprisingly have reacted without thinking. Looking back...I have to wonder how I made decisions at that time. There were fatalities in both cases, and I don't believe there was anything I could have done to prevent it in either case. I just went into a strange mode and began DOING.
In one case, I helped extract the eventual victims from the car. In the other, the fatalities were obvious, and I began to direct traffic on an Austin Freeway.
Was any of this "going the extra mile"? No...it was simply reacting...probably just as any other average Joe would have done. However, I am relieved I did not "freeze up" in either case. I think all of us have the innate ability to respond for our fellow man in an emergency situation.
I applauded our "Extra Mile" honorees along with everyone else. Yes, they did respond in an exemplary manner and a couple of people are alive today for their efforts. And yes, I am sure they feel as if they did nothing special...only reacting to their fellow man in need.
It's good to know there are plenty of folks out there who are ready and willing to react when the situation slams its way into their life. Here's hoping you never find yourself there...but rest assured, you will know what to do.
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6 comments:
Dammit... I hit the wrong button.
Funny you should write about this... I was just in that very spot on Friday. Everyone lived... and all I really did was hang around and make sure the bleeding heroic army guy who had been broad sided didn't pass out from shock while he was helping the woman who had hit him. The ambulance arrived, and I left.
When I was in third grade, my best friend Jennifer and I used to partially squish ants on the playground -- just enough to maim them, but not enough to kill them. Then, we would heroically "nurse" them back to health by bringing them green peas and corn dog crumbs from our school lunches -- and making them little hospital beds out of leaves and twigs.
Thank God for young people like me and Jennifer -- God-loving good Samaritans, always "going the extra mile".
Jeez, Tammy...were you at all involved in the Columbine situation?
I was nine years old, Batman.
And besides, it was at Catholic School. Jennifer and I just went to confession and had our "ant trangressions" absolved by spending some time on our knees and muttering a few heartfelt "Hail Mary's".
And anyway, we DID nurse the ants back to health after all. All's well that ends well, right?
Catholic school girls on their knees always helped me forgive the ocassional minor transgression.
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