Want to learn
more? Well, Thanks! for
stopping by:
I knew from the beginning I was tackling a big subject. As a writer by
nature I was compelled to articulate my experience. That turned into a
25 year exploration! The themes exposed during my times in EMS seemed
beyond the simplicity of life and
death and traveled into that gray
zone, the space in-between where choice lives.
What better ringside
seat could there be than in the back of an ambulance?
But
that's the kind of stuff you didn't talk about in the 1980's when this
all played
out. Oddly enough, little has changed! The
truths I learned had more to do with relationship than technique. My
lessons were not about medicine, but about
myself. Along the way I got
to save a few lives.
All
these
esoteric lessons were learned while performing in one of the most
technically precise, regulated and overseen professions on the planet.
It is also largely overlooked and largely invisible to the public at
large.
The dominant culture that supports the profession minimizes,
denies,
discourages or out and out persecutes those who allow themselves to
experience themselves as human beings while doing their work. The
party line is that having your human experience lessens your ability to
perform as the Flesh Mechanic you're trained to be.
The
purpose of my book is to reach anyone working with human beings in life
and death situations. Using Emergency Medical Services as a metaphor, I
believe I reflect many of the internal conflicts that my fellow
practitioners experience.
Like
them,
things get sprung on me. Like them, sometimes I don't respond so
graciously. Like them, I do very weird things just to really know what
I'm in the midst of. Like them, sometimes I hurt, and hurt badly. Like
them, sometimes I agonize, sometimes I abuse. And,
like them, people may have died by choices I made.
Things
like this are mentioned all the time. But the culture assigns it "vent"
status and encourages our peers to make light, make disgusting, make
funny or make anything of it other than the multifaceted expression of
the human experience that it is. Sure, you can say it, but there's
always someone there to deflect you from feeling it. Taking it one step
deeper is something you do alone, without support, reflection or
comfort being offered.
For
me, those extracurricula journies into rugged personal territory made
the trip worthwhile. Those years in the back of an ambulance informed
every moment I spent in the healing arts since. This is my
statement that stuff like this matters. That YOU matter and deserve
support from your peers to really explore the world you've chosen to
occupy.
Through
that exploration, you will discover that your powers as a healer go way
beyond anything you've been trained to deliver.
Of course, there's a catch here: I'm asking you to make the first move!
Because movement begins with YOU.
I'm not
kidding. Go through this website and check out the book and explore
more of the themes here. Then, next time one of your peers starts
to broach a subject that
involves pain, confusion, hurt, tears, anger, frustration, wonder,
wordlessness, or despair, don't say anything. Listen again to the
echoes of what you just heard.
Notice if there was emotional content to
it. Just make room by taking it seriously,
and then, look inside and share your own
humanity.
It's for ALL of us!
Russ Reina,
a firetender
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