Rick was one of the first of the Emergency Personnel who attender last year's September the 11th emergency in the New York City. That day he lost many many of his friends, and witnessed many things that the human mind is not meant to see.

How many broken, crushed, burned and shattered people do you see before you break down? Yet, Rick did not go down to irreversible depths of despair as some do. I wonder, sometimes... if one believes in guardian angels... if there are more than one assigned to emergency personnel, if the souls of the people they tried so hard to save watch over them. Perhaps when Rick began spiraling down into his personal Hell, he was able to come back because an angel, with blossom-scented hair and blue-gray eyes, protected him from staying in that Hell. Perhaps... her soul at peace, knowing he did all he could to save her, knowing her child was alive because of men like him... she returned the favor by leading him back to a place where he could sleep dreamless sleep again, love again, feel again.

Unfortunately in Rick's line of work, and in my line of work, we only see people who are suffering some sort of (usually very major) trauma. We see the shattered, crushed, burned and broken victims of crime, rape, murder, and drug abuse. Perhaps a bizzare note is to ask whether these people are really the victims - they escape this hell that we call the world today.

I was called to the bedside of an elderly lady over 90 years old today. The poor woman can not move, talk hear, and barely see. She has no entertainment, and has no ability to swallow food or drink. Her skin is paper thin and tears as we turn her from side to side to stop her getting bed-sores. She has a variety of tubes running from her body, some to feed her, some to drain fluids away. And yet, we still keep her alive. Our 'humanity' would lead us to kill a dog in the same state, or a cat, or a deer or any other animal. Would you like to live like that? As that poor woman looked me in the eyes, I could see all through her that she just wanted to escape this shit. Yet still, some idiot sitting in parliament refuses to even consider the possibilities of voluntary euthanasia, on the basis of their 'Christian' beliefs.

So does a Christian support prolonging the suffering of a person. Does a christian believe in a god, when all day long I, and others see the suffering of innocent children and babies (are they guilty of some crime against humanity?), some of whom have no future, and some of whom are victims are freak accidents. Walk a mile in my moccasins, and then tell me that God exists.

This shout goes out to all the Police Officers, Firefighters, Nurses, Paramedics, Doctors, Emergency Flight Crews and all civil servants who deal with the tragedies of life and death. The saddest of all, being those that involve children, and could have been prevented. Wear your seat belts... Keep poisons, flammables, fireworks, etc. out of reach of children...Keep your smoke alarm in operating order, if you don't have one, get one...never, ever drive if you've been drinking .. never leave your toddler unattended...teens, be responsible drivers, obey all traffic lights, posted limits, warnings and signals at road crossings ... keep your guns locked out of reach, and buy a trigger guard.... Protect our children, they are our future... Am I preaching? Am I nagging? I guess I am just telling it like it is....