I am a volunteer in Magen David Adom, the ambulance service in Israel. Usually this means helping old people that aren't really that ill to get to the hospital, sometimes taking care of drunk people lying in the street but mostly sitting waiting on the station to get call to something interesting. However, the situation has changed the last week. Israel has been under attack with rockets fired from Gaza. This has happened before when I have been in Israel but I have never really been affected until this time. The rockets are reaching further up North than before which means that the red alert alarm has gone off in Petach Tikva, where I live, and we've been sent down to the bomb shelter in Netanya. It has even got to the point where the dispatcher in Netanya has moved down to the bomb shelter.
So how has this affected me? This meant me making a choice, do I stay in my flat to keep safe or do I continue the shifts as if nothing happened? To me the choice was obvious, as soon as we got permission to leave the bomb shelter and the dispatcher received a call I was ready to get into the ambulance even if this meant risking a code red (rockets) when I was out and about in the ambulance. But to be honest, that didn't disturb me. There were people that needed help and I wasn't going to let some terrorists stop me from helping. Some people might think it's an heroic act. It isn't. It's an act of being a human. I've been trained to save lives and I don't see why I should stop.
To me being a part of Magen David Adom is not a hobby, it's a lifestyle. When I'm needed I am happy to spend 16 hours or even more on the station because I know that I am doing something useful and I'm proud to do this even if this means risking my own life. Why, you might wonder. Well, let me tell you, I would rather live my life doing something useful instead of living my life being afraid of what could happen if I was trying to help other people.
I can't deny that I'm not scared when the ambulance needs to stop on the road because there is a red alert. It is a terrifying feeling sitting there not knowing if a rocket is going to land right on the ambulance but the thing that scares me more is that the rocket will land hundred meters away from me and I'll be the one having to save the innocent people that are injured from the rocket. The damage these rockets can do would most likely leave me helpless and not being able to do anything.
As a volunteer, a Jew and a person I'm not here to take anyone's side. I will help whoever gets injured, regardless their religion, nationality, political views etc. I'm not there to judge, I'm there to save lives. To me that means there are times when I will be scared, I might not know what is ahead of me and I might not be able to save lives but it's worth the effort for that moment when you stand there knowing the person is alive because you took your time to help them.
So how has this affected me? This meant me making a choice, do I stay in my flat to keep safe or do I continue the shifts as if nothing happened? To me the choice was obvious, as soon as we got permission to leave the bomb shelter and the dispatcher received a call I was ready to get into the ambulance even if this meant risking a code red (rockets) when I was out and about in the ambulance. But to be honest, that didn't disturb me. There were people that needed help and I wasn't going to let some terrorists stop me from helping. Some people might think it's an heroic act. It isn't. It's an act of being a human. I've been trained to save lives and I don't see why I should stop.
To me being a part of Magen David Adom is not a hobby, it's a lifestyle. When I'm needed I am happy to spend 16 hours or even more on the station because I know that I am doing something useful and I'm proud to do this even if this means risking my own life. Why, you might wonder. Well, let me tell you, I would rather live my life doing something useful instead of living my life being afraid of what could happen if I was trying to help other people.
I can't deny that I'm not scared when the ambulance needs to stop on the road because there is a red alert. It is a terrifying feeling sitting there not knowing if a rocket is going to land right on the ambulance but the thing that scares me more is that the rocket will land hundred meters away from me and I'll be the one having to save the innocent people that are injured from the rocket. The damage these rockets can do would most likely leave me helpless and not being able to do anything.
As a volunteer, a Jew and a person I'm not here to take anyone's side. I will help whoever gets injured, regardless their religion, nationality, political views etc. I'm not there to judge, I'm there to save lives. To me that means there are times when I will be scared, I might not know what is ahead of me and I might not be able to save lives but it's worth the effort for that moment when you stand there knowing the person is alive because you took your time to help them.
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