But Why?

By Sharon

"Dad, your job is dangerous right?"

"Yes."

"Then why do you do it?"

Taking a few minutes to ponder his child's question, he took a deep breath and replied, "Because I'm good at what I do, and I make a difference in peoples lives."

"But, you don't know these people, right?"

"Right."

Frowning at his father's response, the young boy just shook his head. He wasn't sure if he could grasp the whole concept of his father risking his life for strangers.

"I don't get it."

Once again, the father looked into the innocent face of his offspring. He could understand his son's perplexity. Most people didn't understand his profession, how could he expect his eleven-year old to?

Finally, he spoke once again. "Son, if you were walking to school and saw someone had their foot stuck in a hole, what would you do?"

"I'd go see if I could help."

"Even if you didn't know the person?" came the response.

"Yeah."

"What if you did know the person and he was a bully, would you still help?"

Taking a few minutes to respond, the boy finally confirmed what his father suspected, "Yeah, I guess."

"And if you couldn't help get his foot out, what would you do then?"

"I'd go get help."

"Well, it seems you'd make a great firefighter then." He patted his son on the back and got up from the steps on the front porch where the two were engaged in their conversation. He turned to head back into the house when he was stopped once again by the adolescence curiosity.

"But Dad, by helping get the foot out, I wouldn't be getting into danger myself."

Turning around and looking at his son once again. The man heaved a sigh and decided the boy was right. "Well son, it's true I might enter into some pretty sticky situations, but I'm trained and I have at least a handful of other trained firemen with me. It may seem like we're putting ourselves in danger, when in fact we aren't."

"But something could happen, right?"

"Yes I suppose, but we do our best to minimize the chances of something going wrong."

Seeing a look of doubt cross his son's face, the firefighter sat back down and put his arm around the child's shoulder. He knew these questions were more than likely stemming from the reports that had been on television all day long. Many firefighters had lost their lives the day before, in what had initially appeared to be a routine fire.

But his son's innocent question had brought a stark reality to the seasoned fireman. No fire, was ever routine. Anything and everything could go wrong at any moment, despite how much training a crew had behind them.

Deciding it was best to be forthright, he continued on, "It's a risk I take, but like I mentioned before, I'm good at what I do, and so are my station mates. They'd give their lives for me."

"And you'd give yours for them, too."

Without even thinking about his response he confirmed his sons fear, "Yes, I would."

The young man didn't respond to his father's confession. Instead he changed paths.

"Do you ever get scared?"

"Yes, but that's a part of the job as well. Any firefighter that tells you he never gets a little afraid is lying."

A few minutes of silence passed before another word was spoken. "Dad, I think I'd like to be a fireman when I grow up."

Smiling, the father squeezed the boy to his body, "I'd be proud to have you follow in my foot steps son. Very proud, it's a noble profession, don't ever forget that."

"What's that mean?"

"It means admirable. Something to be proud of."

"Oh, I think I'd like that."

Smiling once again, father patted his son on his back once again, "I'm sure you would son, I'm sure you would."

With that, the two retreated into the house for a dinner fit for a king, which Joanne had prepared.

The end

While watching a special on New York City's Fire and Rescue #2, one of the fireman talked about what a noble profession fire fighting is and how he puts his life into the hands of his co-workers everyday and vise versa. It struck me at that moment what it must feel like for a child to hear his or her father say those words.

Sharon.

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