11 Years Later:

11 years ago, I was 14 years old. I was a home school student and a freshman in high school.

My dad came into my room and woke me up saying "there's a national emergency" and we sat and watched the news. At 14 years old, there's only so much you can be expected to comprehend. I knew what I was watching was huge and it was sad, but I didn't feel it like most adults did.

But today, as we pause and remember, I get it. I feel it. And I think to myself, what would I have done? If I had been dispatched to one of the towers, what would I have done? Well, I would've gone, obviously, but how does one deal with that?

And then I think, would I give my life?

I've thought about this for a while now and I've come to this conclusion:

I'm not ready to die and I don't want to die. But if it came down to it, I would, to borrow the clichè, take the bullet. Because that's what I signed up for and that's where my heart is at.
If it were one of my family members, I'd want to know that their EMS provider had their heart in it, too.

Thank you to all who have sacrificed in the name of helping others.