On Wednesday, March 26, a nine-alarm fire raged on Beacon Street in Boston. Forty-five mile-per-hour winds fueled the flames and over 150 firefighters responded to the blaze. Thirteen firefighters were injured in the fire and 18 patients were transported to local hospitals.
Two members of the Boston Fire Department, Lt. Edward J. Walsh (43) and Michael R. Kennedy (33) lost their lives. Walsh was a married father of three and a veteran of nearly 10 years. Kennedy was a veteran of the Marine Corps and a 6 1/2 year member of the BFD.
The selfless actions of Walsh and Kennedy, along with the rest of the BFD, are undoubtedly commendable. While most people go off to work each day knowing that they will return to their home later that night, Lt. Walsh, for almost a decade, left his family knowing that there was always a chance it could be for the last time. It was a risk he took willingly.
Kennedy served his country in Iraq, and although military service is more than enough to ask of any man, he went above and beyond his duty in joining the Boston Fire Department when his military career ended. Kennedy was also a first responder to last year’s Boston Marathon Bombings and planned to run in the marathon this year with other men from his firehouse.
The notorious Blarney Blowout, an annual St. Patrick’s Day bash held by students at the University of Massachusetts, has drawn much attention in the media over the past few weeks due to its polarizing outcome. While administrators, parents and UMass Police condemned the drunken debauchery that ended in 55 arrests, students decried the actions of the police, claiming they constituted excessive force and police brutality.
While some of the tactics used by individual officers during the Blarney Blowout may be questionable, the outrage expressed by the students, especially when viewed in the context of the recent Beacon Street fire, seems misplaced.
College culture promotes distrust of authority: The police are drunk on power and are only there to ruin students’ fun, and the government is corrupt and has its own agenda, as shown by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in which nothing was accomplished. Although neither of these sentiments are by any means true, the sentiment is one commonly expressed amongst college students.
Still, American citizens have it good, and we need to remember that.
We have police departments in which officers serve to protect the people. The ability to pick up a phone, dial a number and have a police officer dispatched to your location to assist you in times of danger is a privilege taken for granted by many Americans. Even the officer who unreasonably pulls you over for speeding or makes you pour out your beer is simply taking precautionary measures to ensure your own safety.
We have a powerful military, in which men and women are prepared to defend the United States from the countless threats it faces every day. Yet their service is another privilege commonly taken for granted by the American people. We complain about the policies that govern the military forces and all too often overlook the sacrifice of American service members, how they willingly risk their lives to defend their people and their way of life.
We have fire departments, and every day, firefighters rush into burning buildings to save those trapped inside, without any regard for their own safety. Like members of both the armed forces and law enforcement, they risk their own lives on a daily basis to protect civilians whom they do not even know.
With the one-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon Bombings less than two weeks away, it is important for Americans to remember that, in spite of the many problems that affect our country, we are still extremely fortunate to be citizens of the United States.
When two extremists carried out an attack on the iconic marathon, police officers, firefighters and military responded courageously and heroically, in an act of admirable dedication to their fellow countrymen.
This heroism is easy to laud in the face of tragedy, when two firefighters lose their lives battling a furious blaze or a police officer or service member dies in the line of duty, but it is not so easy to acknowledge in everyday life, when we are not brought together by catastrophe.
Every day, Americans that you do not know and will never know sacrifice their own lives so that you can live freely and safely, so that you can pursue your dreams.
There are 1,369,532 active members of the United States military. There are more than 1.1 million firefighters and approximately 120,000 law enforcement officers in the United States.
Each is prepared to do their duty. Each is prepared to die for you.
Lt. Edward Walsh and Michael Kennedy died for you. Sean Collier died for you. Capt. Davis S. Connolly, Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Burgess, Staff Sgt. Alicia A. Birchett and thousands of others died for you.
For that, we should be infinitely grateful.
Steven Gillard is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at [email protected].
