“love you. don’t die. ”
Every night on-shift, Sammy’s routine was to text Dave, “I love you, be safe.” And after years of responding with just an ‘I love you’ back, Dave finally told Sammy that he couldn’t promise her his safety and he had never said he would be safe, because he didn’t want to lie.
Emergency Responders prioritize the safety of others over their own. Their jobs are INHERENTLY UNsafe. It is literally the job description…sacrificial. Every responder will experience Post-traumatic Stress Injury from repeated exposure to trauma on duty, as well as moral injury from horrific violence and destruction. As we learn to care for our responders and their families we must accept the toll the jobs are taking on their physical and mental well-being. They cannot promise us they will be safe.
Sammy realized what she really meant by saying ‘be safe’ was for Dave to simply come home. Return to her, their life, their family…alive. Don’t die. Come home. Accepting the injury that the brokenness of the world might cause her husband, she is still in. She is behind him. And every responder she meets, every responder she talks to, or thanks, or hugs, or walks by, she sees a little part of Dave in, and a little part of her family in. Same Team. Same struggles. Same hopes. Same love.
To our Responders: We can’t ask you for your safety… but we will love you, and we will ask you all to do your very best to take care of your lives, your body, and your brain. Know that death is inevitable, and know that every moment counts.
Love you. Don’t die,
