Us and Them – Michael Morse

By Michael Morse, contributing writer

The reason first responders are willing to risk their lives for their communities and those who live in them boils down to worth. We have an unwritten societal contract with everybody else – “be worthy of the sacrifices made by those who make them.”

Belief in the integrity of the people who create the world we exist in is vitally important. We need to trust our teachers, our shopkeepers, the folks at the restaurants, our neighbors and friends to hold their end of the social construct to the same ideals we do. We need to know that our immigration laws are fair, and those entrusted to enforce those laws need to know that those of us living within the structure of established law support them.

Honesty, fairness, effort and decency are imperative if we are to flourish. We cannot have “smash and grabs,” stoned drivers, drunk drivers, litterbugs, vile, creepy people wearing last week’s pajamas to the store or people who spit, swear, drive like maniacs, verbally and physically assault uniformed law enforcement and refuse to hold the door if we expect our public servants to give 100% effort 100% of the time when trouble appears.

And trouble always appears.

Now that I am no longer the provider of the emergency response, and have aged into the recipient I need to make sure that what I do, and how I act is deserving of some young cop or firefighter to risk their life over, should the need arise.

It has to be worth it. When the disease of Us vs.Them catches on, and nobody cares about anybody else, because they have been taught to believe that they are always right, and have the right to behave like fools by the rabid behavior of those around them, the very fabric of civilization is torn.

Our police, firefighters, EMTs and Paramedics as well as our federal agents and military are extensions of the rest of us, connected to their communities and tasked with doing a job that gets messy. They ARE us. Each and every one of us has in us the potential to create harmony or chaos. I’ll be damned if I let my behavior tilt the scale toward the latter. Contempt paired with self righteousness festers into ugliness far more easily than acceptance and self awareness becomes understanding.

___

Read more articles by Michael Morse, here: https://rinewstoday.com/michael-morse/

Follow Michael on Facebook at: Rescuing Providence

Michael Morse, mmorsepfd@aol.com, a monthly contributor is a retired Captain with the Providence Fire Department.

Michael Morse spent 23 years as a firefighter/EMT with the Providence Fire Department before retiring in 2013 as Captain, Rescue Co. 5. He is an author of several books, most offering fellow firefighter/EMTs and the general population alike a poignant glimpse into one person’s journey through life, work and hope for the future. He is a Warwick resident.