I Love This Job

by Steven P. Velasquez
May 29, 2012

I love this job. Where else does a person punch in and get briefed by their boss, manager, supervisor or in my case, chief -- that there's danger in the air and that we may be sent right into it? A shooting the other night turned into a homicide and our intel says to be ready for expected retaliation, particularly between this street and that ave., so watch your six.


Dangerous sounding right? I agree. But having lived the corporate life with all of its' consistencies, I choose the uncertainty, the disorder, the calamities inherent.

My job is never boring. I call my co-workers and esteemed colleagues brothers -- and sisters; and now that I'm getting older, many of them are like my sons and daughters too.

My job provides perspective.  I don't just watch the seasons change, I live them, I experience them. I don't just read about the weather, nor watch it on T.V., I'm enveloped in it. 

My job puts me in the midst of things happening.  I don't just read about last night's tragedy. I -- was last night's tragedy's last hope.

My job is challenging.  A 6X6 fluorescent lit, climate controlled cubicle in a perfectly predictable office space just doesn't cut it for me. The back of a 10 foot long, poorly lit and barely air conditioned ambulance is my office -- uncertainty is my home. 

My job is exhausting.  It's said that one should work to live, not live to work. Maybe I'm off balance. Perhaps a little askew, but if the circumstances in my life dictate that I have to work as much as I do, I choose the excitement. I choose the uncertainty. I choose this group of people beside me.  I choose the life of a Mobile Intensive Care Paramedic and I pray God keeps me healthy and able to continue in this endeavor -- with these brothers -- and these sisters for as long as I'm needed here.

My job is noble and honorable and not - for the faint of heart.