Deliberate deceiving...
Reading these posts makes me realise how much my job (paramedic) makes me accept truly sad situations with little or no emotion...and even that realisation doesn't make me emotional or teary eyed. I guess it’s a way of retaining my sanity, but I do wonder at what cost.

I did get a request once via the police to speak to the wife and young son of a man who had committed suicide in an incredibly bizarre and tortuous manner. He died in my care as we arrived at hospital and the possibility of survival was always nil. The wife and son wanted to be reassured that he died in peace, in no pain and had he given a message to pass on to them.

Frankly he was in extreme pain and a lot of mental anguish and confusion, but he did have a lucid period of about a minute when he told me some personal stuff – none of which involved any messages for his loved ones. The liaising police officer sussed out a few background details about the family and we both conspired to concoct a story that we thought they would want to hear – how much he loved them both and that his son shouldn’t give up on his learning difficulties and that he was sorry for hitting his wife.
And more stuff like that.

Man, the look on their faces as we spun our web of deceit – pure tears of happiness in the midst of a tragedy.

The police officer and I had a few drinks later to debrief what we had done and even though I felt the eyes welling up a bit, there were still no tears. Out of the blue the cop tells me that it really bugs him that he doesn’t get teary eyed/emotional anymore, so it’s not just me.



And for fucks sake can we get back to something more amusing for the next QOTW? With this question and no newsletter all in the same week how are we supposed to get our daily grin to cope with it all?
(emadex thinks the world will end on, Mon 18 Apr 2005, 5:20, Reply)