Its two in the morning, I am working a 24-hr shift, the phone rings, we have a call. I get my boots on and run to the rig. When we get on scene, we see death threats written everywhere over the wall, empty alcohol bottles broken and dispersed, a loaded shotgun in the kitchen, and butcher’s knife in the patient’s hand. He wants to kill his girlfriend, but he messed up, he tried to kill himself first. I see his arm is bleeding and realize he slit his wrist. I wonder, “What am I doing? Why am I here, I could be at home, asleep.”I am twenty-one years old, born and raised in Orange County, an EMT, a man of faith and a student, but this doesn’t really answer the question. After thinking more about it, I realized what I do doesn’t make me who I am; it is why I do it that really matters. My morals, values and beliefs shape who I am and consequently shape what I do. Thinking about that night I had the call I ask myself why was I there? I realized I was there because I wanted to help. I believe in hope and in love, that with these two things all things are possible. If that patient had these two things, he wouldn’t have been in that situation. I believe these two things are the reason why I am an EMT and why I am trying to become a doctor, because these things I do are the only way I know how to pass along the hope and love that I have received in my life and that has shaped everything that I do.The love I have for medicine, my God, and my friends and family are the foundation for everything I do including going to school, helping others and striving to better myself. It is because of this, that I am who I am today: a student, a brother, a son, a friend, and an EMT.
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