Let me tell you about my crazy December. It seems as if the end of the year always brings about hectic things and this year was no exception. I found out that the EMT requirements for Mass had changed and they now required you to have all recertification requirements done by the last day of December. In addition to that my Class A pistol permit (license to conceal and carry) is on hold until I redo my safety course (which i have done at this point, I am just waiting for my permit).
I understand the need to award certifications and licenses to people for things like these, in fact I think its a good idea. That being said I do not approve of the way that the state goes about it. I spent almost an entire day filling in useless tests for my EMT. The issue is that these tests do not make me any better at being an EMT. Yes there is a definite knowledge base needed to be any type of emergency medicine, but it is not so much the knowledge that is the important thing, it is the reaction of the EMT. Responding to an emergency situation is not like taking a test. There isn't always a right ansewer, sometimes a person has to trust their intuition and make a choice. The EMT is there to render emergency care, but mostly to be a calm and collected force in the situation. This is the key aspect of any emergency, so me sitting through 28 hours of extra credits doesn't make me a better EMT at all, but just wastes my time.
That being said that is really to most important part of hands on instruction when it comes to emergency situations. While watching Jericho last night it was amazing how complacent people get when something doesnt happen. 95% of the time things do not go wrong(thank God), but I dont think that is any excuse to forget the things that have gone wrong before and not learn from them.
I am not going to get political or anything in this post (maybe I will save that for a later post) but the perfect example right now is airplanes. For all the know me I am a rather hardcore Libertarian ( small government, social and religious freedom, and those rights guaranteed me by the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. That being said I think a distinction needs to be made between rights and privileges. Flying in an airplane is not a right. I say again flying in an airplane is no more a right than getting a rental car. Companies make their livings off of flying people around, great grand wonderful. Now the issue has come up that using things such as full body screeners, dogs and other intrusive means of searching a person infringe on a persons rights of unlawful search and seizure. If someone walked up to you randomly on a city street and used these devices on you then that would be an infringement of your rights. If you choose to fly on an airplane than that is not an infringement of your rights. Flying is not a right, it is a choice you are making. IF you don't like the way security is carried out at the airport, then don't fly on a plane. Its really as simple as that. I find it ridiculous and irresponsible that we do not have more people searching passengers on planes and drug, bomb, etc sniffing dogs everywhere at US airports. When I went to Germany I was greeted by two German Shepherds the second I entered the terminal. (my love of the German Shepherd aside) Why is this not the case in Logan? Because Logan doesn't want to put people off. Life is about putting people off so get over it. They don't like the things business are doing then don't use the business, its as simple as that.
Ps: I think that the title of this post is the best alert ever. I wish they still had a guy with drums beating to quarters instead of a general alarm.
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