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| "Are you with Channel 5??" |
And I enjoy it. Not just because these people are dumb asses, but because in every child and crackheads voice, you can hear just a tiny hint of reverence. Because, hey, even though they see the camera and the microphone and the reporter and the live truck and the car and the shirt all emblazoned with Live 5 News sitting right in front of them, they still cant believe that they are actually in the presence of someone who makes what they see on TV happen. To them, I am a small time hero. I went through the mysterious process of getting hired and working my way up to a job that to them, seems up in the clouds. I hang around all day with local famous people and I get to drive my work vehicle filled with my work gear to places every day that they've never been. Tell me that isn't some impressive shit. What they don't know is that I'm an overweight 22 year old male who drives a 1996 Honda Mini Van to his rented house in the ghetto every night to play video games and drink. It's so weird that just like with big Hollywood celebrities, people have a hard time seeing past the job into someones life. Sure when I'm on the job I'm pretty important looking, but when I'm on a day off these people wouldn't even recognize me, much less look at me with awe. It's almost the same anywhere you go. The military veteran will come home and be the trailer park redneck he was when he left, just now free of the forced personal hygiene. The firefighter will return to his house in the burbs and crack open a beer while searching the Internet for some form of free porn. Police officers will lock themselves in their tiny apartments with their German Shepherds and drink and smoke pot and try to forget about tomorrow.
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| "Peanut Butter?" |
I've discovered that all of us heroes to the common people are really not what the movies make us to be. We are the schmucks that inhabit this earth on our days off. We aren't cool all the time. It makes me wonder about how many of these people are workaholics that spend so much time at their job because they dislike who they are when they aren't working. When I'm working I get free access to sporting events, skip the line privileges, free parking (mostly) and offers to go do the coolest stuff around town. But when I'm at home, I have to wait in line and pay for parking, and it gets so boring. Sure I know that a lot of people who have bad ass professions have families and can't wait to get back to them, but some can't wait to work either. The movie "The Hurt Locker" touched this point perfectly. The guy was so addicted to the adrenaline of his job, he couldn't stand to be still. I pace in my apartment on my days off, it sucks.
Most people say that being a hero isn't a full time job. It only consists of being at the right place at the right time and making a tough decision. I don't think thats true. I do agree that that is part of what a hero can be, but just doing something that puts you above the normal day to day tasks makes you special in the eyes of those who dont. Being a hero is doing something to people that inspires them to be greater, or makes them wish they hadn't screwed up their lives. When I'm on the scene of a sports event on the sidelines right there in the action, people see me and wish they could do something like that. When a firefighter battles a blazing inferno people look on and say "Damn, he/she has balls that could drink me under the table!" And everyone has seen the tv spots where a police officer jumps out of his car onto a moving truck and beats the driver into submission after getting hit with said truck. Yeah, you ALL wish you had some of that in your lives.
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| "Mike, move your hand..." |
The 4 Bs. Nice.
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