The Other Emergency Responders

I woke up to a snow covered world this morning. Looking out my window when I got out of bed only confirmed what I already knew I would see. I knew because during the night I heard heavy work boots striding across my wood floors, a door slamming, and a pick-up starting. It was my 22-year-old son who is a snow plow driver. It was 1:30 am, and he had been called into work.

When we think of emergency responders we usually think of police, paramedics, and firefighters. How grateful we are for these people and the work they do. But there are other, less visible responders. People like snow plow drivers, whose work we hardly even notice unless it isn’t done.

Whenever our power goes out during a storm, I think about the electrical linemen who have to go out in the storm to fix whatever the problem is. And later, when the power comes back on, I silently thank whoever it was who fixed it. I live in an area prone to power outages, so I do this a lot.

And what about tow truck drivers? I’ve passed accident scenes after the police and paramedics have finished their work and the victims have been taken away in ambulances. There alone is the tow truck driver, cleaning up the mess left behind.

When crises occur, these people are part of the team that sets things right. They are frequently called at times which aren’t convenient to go to circumstances which aren’t pleasant. Their work is often not even noticed, but without them our world would not run as smoothly as it does.

I’m sure there are others I haven’t thought of. But I’d like to thank them nonetheless. I know when I flip a switch and the lights come on or when I drive on a cleared road after a snow storm or accident, someone has done their job well. Someone who was pulled from his warm bed to go out into the cold. Someone like my son.