10/14/2025
When God was creating firefighters…
He was into the sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared and said, "You're doing a lot of extra work on this one."
And the Lord said, "Yes I have, have you read the specs on this order?
To start with a firefighter must be able to often wake from deep sleeps and respond to many different fire alarms.
They’ll encounter many complex and changing situations from going into burning buildings to attacking giant firestorms and rescuing people out of danger.
They will be required to see and do things a normal person wouldn't go into or do.
They have to leave their family at home and willingly work to exhaustion… and then beyond… and then be ready for the next call.
They’ll also have to have enough personal discipline and strong commitment to answer to a higher calling, to help and serve others even if that places their own lives in jeopardy.
They’ll need to understand, act and behave as family, members of a 'Brotherhood', with strong unity of purpose.
They’ll need to be in top mental and physical condition at all times, be able to function on black coffee and half-eaten meals.
A heart this big enough to also indiscriminately love all human and animal-kind alike.”
The angel shook its head side-to-side slowly and said, "Wow, that’s a big heart"
"It's not the heart that is causing me problems," said the Lord, "it's all the extra sets of hands, eyes and ears a firefighter has to have."
"Multiple sets of eyes will be included on the standard firefighter model?" asked the angel.
The Lord nodded. "Yes, one pair of eyes that sees the whole situation, another intuitive pair that sees what lay ahead needing to be dealt with, a third pair to watch his brothers and sisters back, and yet even another pair that can compassionately, confidently and reassuringly look at an injured victim and say, ‘We’re here for you, hang in there, you'll be alright’… even when they know it might not be so.”
"Lord," said the angel, touching his sleeve, "You’ve worked long and hard, rest and continue working on this tomorrow."
"Unfortunately I can't, I have to keep working" said the Lord, "this model also needs to somehow be able to pull a victim heavier than themselves out of a burning building, commit their life to helping other people and be so self-sacrificing they’ll willingly drop everything they are currently doing responding immediately to assist those who are in need of help".
The angel slowly circled around, inspecting the standard model of the firefighter carefully, "Can it think?" the angel asked.
"You bet it can" said the Lord. "It has learned and keeps to memory for future use many important elements of responding to various scenes and situations including medical needs of victims, technical aspects of rescues and the importance of fire ground safety just to name a few.
All this and still keeping a sense of humor.
This firefighter model must also have phenomenal self-control, be able to emotionally deal with scenes painted from hell, encounter all this and still go home to love their family and friends.
This firefighter model will require bravery, loyalty, honesty and devotion to service. They must willingly and frequently put their life on the line to protect property, homes and loved ones from the devastating effects of fires and other tragedies and disasters.
And sometimes, sadly, performing this honorable job of saving lives will require many firefighters to pay the ultimate price for their valor in the line of duty."
Finally, the angel ran a finger across the cheek of the firefighter model. "There's a leak," the angel pronounced. "I told you that you were trying to put too much in this model."
"That's not a leak," the Lord said, “it’s a tear."
"What's a tear for?" asked the angel.
"It's a release mechanism, for bottled-up traumatic experiences and emotions, for fallen comrades, for the victims, and for overwhelming stressful job they willingly accepted.”
"A tear, that’s genius!" said the angel.
The Lord looked somber… "I didn't put it there," He said.
~ Anonymous
Art work: Unknown
Brotherhood of 🔥
