Realizations of an EMT Student (Nonfiction)

00:25 5/22/16

To most, that looks like a collection of numbers. Maybe they understand that the last part is a date. But they probably would think that the 00 was meant to be an 11 or something like that. Not me. My dad was in the military when I was a kid, so I practically grew up on military time. But even if I hadn't, most of my closest friends work EMS or fire. They always use military time, so you get used to it.

Anyway, there IS a significance to that time and date. It's today! Right now! And, well, the name of this story is "Realizations of an EMT Student", and I just had a realization, so I felt like I should share it. And for those of you who don't understand military time, "00" in the hour spot is midnight.

So, at about 00:25, I heard an ambulance pass by the end of my street. And I had a moment. I realized that in about a year, that will be me. I'm taking EMT through my school, and we take the NREMT in May. (National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians. It is a national test that allows you to practice as an EMT. It isn't required everywhere, but it IS required where I live.) But I will be one of the people that people call when they are at their worst at midnight or 03:00 or whenever. Early calls are the worst, from what I hear, because either it is a drunk person that thinks they're dying, or it's BAD. Because when you don't know whether or not to call 911, it crosses your mind that you don't want to wake up the poor EMTs. If that does cross your mind, and you do anyway, it's probably for the best that you did, too. But I'm getting off topic. I heard those sirens and thought to myself about how weird it was that that would be me. That when someone was dying (or thought they were) I would be expected to be there for them. It was almost surreal to think about.

I want to talk a bit about something else now. A bunch of people are asking me why I decided to take EMT next year. I had to give up tech theatre for it, and it takes up two blocks in my schedule. Not to mention that you have class on Saturday's sometimes, and you have to study. A lot. And the truth is that I don't know why I did it. I was originally going to get my certification through someone else. So everyone assumed that I signed up because my best friend signed up for EMT as well. (Now, granted, he's a firefighter, and is taking his NREMT in two weeks, because his fire captain said "you WILL get your EMT certification" and he said "yes, ma'am" because he's slightly terrified of her I think. So, he's taking it for the easy A that it will prove to be.) But he wasn't the reason that I signed up for it. Other people think that I signed up for the thrill. You know, the thrill that you get from working as an EMT. No. I'm well aware that the "thrill" dies after a few shifts. Another popular theory is that I lost interest in theatre, so I decided to try something new, and someone told me that I would like this. EVERYONE IS WRONG. If they have a theory that is a good reason to do it, they are wrong. I literally did this on a whim. I was loving theatre more than ever. But I realized something. Theatre won't take me everywhere that I need to go once I grow up. I'm in my junior year of school, and I still don't know what I want to do with my life. A bunch of people told me to try this, so I am. The truth is, I'm really interested in all of this, but I don't know why I'm doing it.

I guess that that's all as far as midnight ramblings go.