SIREN REMINDS US OF OUR LINKS

The sound of a siren is more unsettling when you live in the country. I remember living in Tucson, Arizona for years. You heard an ambulance and you got out of its way. Or you saw a fire truck and you got over on the shoulder of the road. Then you drove on and you never gave it another thought.

That’s just not the case when you live where I live now. The thing is- odds are when you hear that wailing sound, it is going to involve someone that you know. Or at least someone that someone you know knows. And it makes a big difference.

I never hear a siren and feel unaffected. I usually stop and say a prayer. Just a word of concern. A request for safety. There’s a different kind of feeling about it. One that is hard to describe.

The people in those fire trucks and ambulances are often people you know too. Some are volunteers. You just might know the victims as well . When my nephew and his girlfriend, who were visiting from Tucson several summers ago ,got into a bad four-wheeler accident, we were so shaken up by his misfortune. Still we were glad to see the speed with which help was dispatched once we called 911. Neighbors stopped in to see if they could help. Turns out he had to be airlifted to Borgess-and the whole incident was handled by people from our area. Folks asked about him with some regularity for the rest of the summer. He had to have a pin in his femur but is doing fine now.

In the country community, people just seem more willing to help and to get involved. When our neighbors’ house burned a couple of years ago, folks donated money and furniture and a place for them to stay. I guess it’s just more clear to everyone in the country community, that the sound of a siren indicates that real people are apt to be hurting and in need. And yes, there just might be something that you could do to help out.

It’s like the poet says “No man is an island”. Or more to the point- “Never ask for whom the bell ( siren) tolls (wails ). It tolls for thee. “ –My apologies to John Donne.