A Word Of Thanks For Our First Responders
Sometimes the news hits a little bit close to home. Austin was moved by a particularly heart-wrenching post he saw from a local law enforcement officer and offered some words of encouragement and thanks.
Austin: Very sad news out of Jefferson County. Yesterday, a high school student there at…is it Thomas Jefferson Academy that he went to? I think it was, died in a shooting accident. Apparently Carter Gay, 17 years old, very popular, beloved student. He was a competitive sharp shooter from what I’ve heard. And yesterday, while he was target practicing. It’s believed he hit something that created a ricochet effect, and the bullet came back at him and hit him in the chest. It did not kill him immediately and he was struggling to get back to his house. I think when he finally expired. God bless his family. I hear they’re wonderful people. I think we actually have some mutual friends in his extended family. And of course they’re all shattered.
An Emotional Toll
I ran across something, came up completely by happenstance on my social media feed a little earlier today. Posted by a gentleman who has been a lifelong public servant and first responder in our area. And his name is Scott Huff. I want to, I just want to read what he said. I’m not I’m not sharing any secrets here. He posted this on his page for all of his many friends and acquaintances to see it’s been shared or actually commented on many times, and I’ve had several folks in law enforcement reach out to me today and say, Austin, did you see this? And I said, absolutely. I didn’t…just let me share it with you here. Hopefully I’ve got enough time to read this before we hit the break. And this is Scott’s post from about six hours ago.
44 years now, being in public service, fire, EMS, law enforcement. Thousands of tragic calls. Most are still burned clearly into my memory. I can still remember vivid details of them all. I’m now finishing out my career where I first started, Jefferson County. Jefferson County is mostly rural. Yesterday I went to yet another tragedy and for the first time in my career, this one hit me hard. I’m not sure why.
I’ve been through thousands of these. Yes, I felt every one of them. But I guess I learned to compartmentalize them. Yesterday was different. I’m not sure why. Maybe because my family and their family have always known each other. Maybe because I know that this family is a strong pillar in the community. I was fine until I got home. Then it seemed that every tragic event over the last 44 years came flooding to my consciousness. I sobbed most of the night. Anyone that knows me knows that this isn’t like me. My wife, bless her heart, did not know what to do.
I felt like the house was closing down on me. I’ve never had these feelings before. I got in my truck. And I rode with my pup. Dog, puppy, pup. I’m better now, but I am not okay. This is why first responders need places where they can go to talk to their peers. I found out last night firsthand, this is a very lacking resource. Please to any of my brothers and sisters, first responders.
Learn to talk to each other. It’s decompression. Every one of us needs to learn to talk to each other, because it’s all going to come out one day, like it did with me last night with a vengeance. If anybody ever needs to talk, don’t hesitate to reach out to me, please.
Giving Back
Scott. I can’t say enough how, you know, how sad I am for you. Certainly for the family of Carter Gay. I can only imagine, what must go through the mind and the heart of someone who loses a child like that. I don’t even want to think about it. It’s too overwhelming. But I can speak just a quick moment about what you, as a first responder feel. And, this is something that I’ve heard from others through the years. It’s something that I saw a little bit in my limited experience working adjacent to first responders. I’m not considering an emergency room assistant a first responder where, somebody else is…. well. I guess on occasion somebody would walk through the door, but 99 times out of 100, the most seriously injured were brought in by true first responders.
The only thing I can say to you as as someone who has had to take a ride in an ambulance, as a patient and as someone who has, unfortunately had to pack some loved ones up. One of the few times….matter of fact, I think the only time that I’ve ever left this show in the middle of me doing this show was when I got the call that my son was on his way to emergency surgery in the back of a ambulance.
A Message For All Our Local First Responders
So, excuse me. I just want you to know from the bottom of my heart, from the bottom of all of our hearts out here who have been in the position of needing you incredible people. We would be lost without you. I understand the frustration and the heartbreak that you must feel when you come across a 17 year old who has been severely injured in an accident that was not his fault. Just a freak, strange thing that happened. A young man whose face and family you were very familiar with. All the promise, all of the potential. All of the great things that young man still had left to live. With and through and it all ended right there.
And you were, you were right there. You were sitting front row center for that tragedy. But if it weren’t for you and the the people who do the job that you do, no one would survive. Those accidents, those tragedies, those criminal attacks, those natural illnesses that you pull people back from. No one would. And while this young man did not make it yesterday, think of the thousands that you’ve worked on through the years that did and the futures that you did help restore or maintain and I just don’t know.
An Invaluable Service
There’s no way that our society, our governmental systems, or any of us individually can adequately thank you folks. You are doing God’s work here. And as tough as it is on you, I would say the same thing if I were talking to a soldier who was fighting an evil enemy. Think of the men and women who face down fundamentalists and their terrorism. Excuse me, the best way to say that – those in foreign lands who are so misguided in their ridiculous beliefs that they think eternal Paradise is on the other side of a suicide bombing. And our United States soldiers, with the best Kevlar that money can buy covering just about every square inch of their body are sometimes not protected well enough.
You’re doing the best job that a human can do on this planet. You are intervening on behalf of every loved one of the individuals who you’re helping. When my son fell off those monkey bars and broke his arm so badly that he had to go into emergency surgery, and they were scared he was going to bleed, if not suffer from permanent damage because the way the arm was broken. I can’t. I can’t do anything. I’m his dad. If running my mouth would have helped him, I could have gotten him all better pretty quick. His mother is an English teacher. If teaching him the ins and outs of To Kill a Mockingbird or Edgar Allan Poe’s greatest poetry could help him, she would. But she’s not a doctor. She’s not a first responder. God put you here for a reason.
A Word of Thanks
God gave you the talent and the courage to do what you do. And we would be lost as a community, as a country without you incredible people. I don’t know if that’s going to make you feel any better, Scott. I don’t know if it’s going to help you out. But I can tell you that you are forever buoyed by the prayers and the goodwill of the people you serve. And I’ll forever do what I can as a citizen and as someone with a voice to make sure that your profession is adequately compensated for what you do, and that when you do have a period of self-reflection that you need assistance with, that someone is there for you. God bless you, sir. And again, God bless the family of Carter Gay as they navigate these very tough days.
Austin’s Daily Commentary – February 6, 2024
