Nurse Super Hero

They might save your life in the weeks to come.  They will be doing it at enormous risk to themselves and those they love.  Find a way to honor them.

There have been times during my government mandated home lockdown that I’ve felt sorry for myself, and I realize I should be kicked square in the balls for it.  I’m in a nice, comfortable routine doing work, exercising, playing with the dogs, tinkering with guns, loading magazines, and completing some long-overdue projects around the house.

Meanwhile, nurses, doctors, EMTs, morgue workers, and hospital janitors all around the country are voluntarily diving headlong every single day into what can only be described as a live-fire combat zone.  The enemy can’t be seen but it’s literally everywhere around them.

Unlike the sonic crack of passing bullets that would tell Army Rangers or Marine Raiders how close the enemy is to turning their lights off in the mountains of Afghanistan, the virus is quiet – waiting for them to make a single mistake that allows it to invade their bodies.

The more 20-hour days spent in the hospitals wading through a veritable sea of virus, the more likely that a mistake will be made.  Exhausted, without thinking, a gloved finger is used to slide under protective glasses and momentarily go after an allergy-induced eye itch.  It is the one second, in an otherwise perfect 20 hours when the virus gets its win.  The stress that goes into avoiding this one slip is overwhelming to the workers on the frontlines.

Unlike those who fight our military battles, these virus warriors must worry about bringing injury and death directly back to their loved ones each day.  There are stories of exhausted doctors and nurses living in their garages with meals slid under the door in order to ensure wives, husbands, and kids are not exposed to the virus emitted from the third patient who died earlier in the day. It’s as if they are zoo animals living in their replicated natural habitat – the garage exhibit.

These are the worst times of their lives.  There is no end in sight, though it is certain it will come.  It always does.  Remember that if you get sick from this virus – I mean really sick – these selfless people choosing to go to work each day and face known danger are the only ones who will keep you from an otherwise certain and miserable death.

Before it’s all over, we will all know at least one person who was saved by them.  It’s more likely to be many.  Find a way to say “thanks” to them.  Like those who answered the call during other national challenges and tragedies, they deserve it… and a hell of a lot more.  Honor them.

Image Credit: @IAmFake on Instagram

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