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Just another day? Fire Department grants dying wish to little boy.
So I got to thinking about posting something that wasn't a nag session about seatbelts, or that really had anything to do with firefighter safety, per se. (thanks Mick for the inspiration) I think I'd just like to express my thoughts about what the Fire Service, in particular the volunteer fire service does, around the holidays.
For those of you "Catlicks", of which I'm one, the Holidays are a celebration of our Savior's birth. Has the celebration become too commercial? In my mind, yes. I don't want to go shopping for Hallowe'en decorations and be bombarded by mistletoe and garland. What does Christmas mean for those of us who celebrate the holiday?
My definition of Christmas means love, warmth, compassion, charity, mindfulness, and giving. I read something on our local newspaper a few days ago that exemplified all of those traits (www.timesunion.com). The Town of Colonie Fire Department got wind of the story of a terminally ill 7 year old little boy in one of our local hospitals who had a dying wish....he wanted to be a firefighter. Riddled with cancer, sick beyond hope, he was not able to take the trip that the Make A Wish (these people are real heroes) folks had devised to Walt Disney World.
They asked his family what else he wanted? To be a firefighter. I had to swallow the lump in my throat just reading that.
The Town of Colonie Fire Department responded in a way that not only restored my faith in humanity but made me so proud to be involved in the fire service. I cried. I hope you do too, and I hope that it makes you stop and think about what's important.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=643738
Happy Holidays....take stock of what's important to you....be grateful for the successes, be grateful and be willing to tackle the challenges. I'm grateful every single day for my family, my friends, my health, and my capacity for love.
Add a Comment
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Comment by Firstwhip on December 5, 2007 at 4:28pm
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Thank you...... for reminding us what really is important!
God bless the Town of Colonie Fire Dept.
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Comment by Tiger Schmittendorf on December 5, 2007 at 2:50pm
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Nice Job Mel -
That's a great story and helps to really put things in perspective as we CELEBRATE Christmas.
I tried to get our fire department to just offer free fire truck rides in exchange for unwrapped new gifts for the Toys-for-Tots effort, but unfortunately the idea fell on deaf ears, or cluttered inboxes.
The idea is not mine, I stole it from the Phoenix Fire Department, the home of innovation in doing the right thing for the customer.
Mick - I know Brian Rousseau and will be speaking with him today. I'll let him know you said hello. Do you know Pete Rizzo (Ret. Capt. - Rochester FD) too?
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Comment by Jeff Betz on December 5, 2007 at 9:17am
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That's really cool, thanks for the link. The department I used to be a paid on call FF for, did something similar. From birth on, we ran ambulance calls and transports for a young man with serious birth defects. Over the years, he and his family became close with our department. As he got older, he said he would like to be a Firefighter. He was healthy enough to make his 18th birthday, so his family said he would have to be 18 to join. He must have forgot or given up the thought a little, because he was SO HAPPY when our guys showed up on his birthday and made him a member of the department. He only lived a couple years after that, and when he passed, the FD was on hand to send him home.
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Comment by Mick Mayers on December 4, 2007 at 11:26pm
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I'm troubled by the possibility that I inspire anything, much less a post on good things that people are doing (so thanks for the prop), but that's a good post and it really does illustrate what the season is all about.
By the way, you probably know a few buds of mine, (Rousseau comes to mind- he's on 1006 and SUSAR with me) those RRT-1 US&R folks. The other names don't jump out at me but I'm sure I can be prompted.
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