A thought to share .....

When I met with the reporter who recently did an article on me, I mentioned something about my public service career that I honestly never gave a great deal of thought to, until that day. This message is to remind you that you must always remember where you have been in your life, as those experiences have made you what you are today. During the interview I stated, "Ken, this reminds me of a movie I really enjoyed. Being a boater and having a love for ocean, as well as a member of the USCG Auxiliary, I enjoy the movie with Kevin Costner, The Guardian. The other main characters nickname was "Goldfish", who hounded him as to how many saves he had as a CG rescue swimmer. He never answered. At the end, when he retired, Goldfish asked him again, since KC was a legend as rescue swimmer. Everyone expected him to have a high number of saves. When Goldfish asked again, and stated, "I have to know," KC replied, "22". Goldfish looked at him in shook. Saying, "well I guess 22 is good, it's not 2 or 3 hundred, but it's good." KC replied, "no, that's not my number of saves, that's how many I lost. I never kept count of one's I saved." Everyone in the rescue profession always keeps track of a number. I never wanted to keep track of the one's I lost, or the one's I had to pronounce deceased. I only kept track of the babies I delivered, and the number of patients I took care of while I was working on the road. Ken asked, "What are those numbers?" I replied, "I delivered 13 babies, and took care of 76,251 patients in my career on the road as a firefighter and paramedic." I paused for a second or two because it never really hit me until then, how many lives I have actually interacted with in my road career. Reflection is never a bad thing. It often times will surprise us as to where we have been, and what we have done. REFLECT!