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"What is a Hero?"
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I think about what emergency responders do for a chosen career, it tells me that
all of us who wear or have worn a badgeover our hearts are the real Heroes!
Hero stands for Heart, Emergency
Response and Brave Personnel: Yes, every man and woman in Law Enforcement, Fire
Fighting/Rescue or EMS is a hero as they enter harm's way to help those in
emergency need.
Each day, no matter what unnatural
forces of Mother Nature or evils of man are present, we proudly pin that shinny
badge over our heart as we report for hazardous duty.
A hero is a person who survives the
ever-present dangers in their job. Dedicated to the protection of people,
property and animals. Without concern for their own personal safety - they
display courage and when necessary provide that extra effort to save lives.
It is that person who gives 110 percent on their watch. It is that extra
commitment which makes a hero. We know our lives are on the line every time we
pin that badge over our hearts.
A hero is every man and woman who
gives unrelenting hours looking for lost comrades, as in the world trade center
rescue and recovery effort.
All the emergency personnel who
volunteered to go to New York City to help our brothers and sisters who needed
them, they did not ask for cozy warm beds, they slept where they could off
shift. They gave what they could - they are heroes.
Every domestic disturbance call could
be our last; every unstable fire or hazardous rescue scene could be our brother
or sisters last alarm.
I never thought of myself as a hero,
I did a job that I loved more than life itself. Hero is not a word for me. When
I received an award, I did not feel I deserved it; I did what I did for the love
of a badge. A parish and the state I live in. I did what my ancestors loved to
do.
Yes, my great uncle's name is etched
on the memorial wall in DC; he died in 1923, years before I was born. My great
Uncle was also a Judge, killed in his courtroom. Yes, a long-standing tradition
in my family, a father, grandfather and uncle who also served in law
enforcement.
Every person who wears a badge for
public safety does so with honor and pride.
They are filled with Heart; they care
about the emergencies of everyday life and helping others.
So it is with a joyful heart, that I
call everyone in public safety a hero.
GOD BLESS AMERICA
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dee Dee Serpas is a retired police officer from
Kenner Police Department (Louisiana).
Currently, she is the President of the TAPS Memorial Web site.
Following in the footsteps of her great-grandfather, Sheriff Paul Berthelot,
Sheriff of St. John the Baptist Parish, and that of her father, who was
president of FOP Lodge 2 in the late 1950s, Dee Dee became a Police Officer.
First with the East Jefferson Levee Board Police, she also joined the Kenner
Police Department and was the only female to graduate from the academy that
year. Later, she joined the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office as a street cop.
This makes her the only known female in Louisiana to have held three commissions
at the age of 21. Her first book, Behind the Badge in the Atchafalya Swap
is due out soon.
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