Answering 911

"Answering 911" by Caroline Burau

If you know me you know that I like a little drama, a little tragedy so this book intrigued me by its title. It is written by a 911 operator and although it doesn't go into a lot of detail about certain calls it does give you a look inside a day of a 911 operator. It is a thankless job but a vital one. "But, beyond that, there's a certain mentality in law enforcement that says you shouldn't be the type of person who takes things personally. If you are, you're weak. Build a wall. I hear that one a lot. The problem is, I'm a person. And when another person calls me on the phone asking for my compassion and my help, I don't want them to have to jump my wall to get it." It is hard to answer emergency calls all day and not let them get to you but still have compassion for the person on the other line. "Sometimes I wonder: How does God handle all the 911 calls that He gets?" He answers and He answers with compassion and a knowledge of all things and for that I am so glad. "Good things happen, I remind myself often. It's just that nobody calls 911 to tell us about it when it does." Maybe we should, maybe we should. Who knows whose day we might make.