Level-headed heroes

This entry goes out to Courtney, whose patience finally wore thin and she came to badger me for a posting.


Beyond writing my thesis this past week (aka creative writing), there hasn't been much going on in my world. So I'd like to join the chorus of voices to make comment on the recent tragic death of a Myer employee earlier in the week.


The circumstances of the tragedy don't warrant attention because they are so sad, so I'd instead like to focus on the admiration I feel for the paramedics and cops that swarmed on the crime scene to restore order. I can't imagine the situation that confronted them when they arrived the other day, but I figure "mayhem" and "panic" are two words that might feature.


How do they stay calm and, better still, engender calm in the witnesses of by-standers? My cousin is a paramedic and he's never spoken in much detail about the things he sees or deals with on the job. I wonder how it's possible to sleep at night with those images behind your eyes.


I sometimes think that if I was ever faced with what Myer staff and customers dealt with the other day, perhaps my inner ninja warrior would emerge and I'd be able to kick or help subdue the offender. Realistically, I'm sure I'd be frozen with fear and numb with shock. I would then like to hope that the brave police and emergency personnel would swoop in like they did the other day and make it all better.