beginning of essay #3

It was a warm November night when Joe’s unit was dispatched to a 911 call. There was a man about to jump off the roof. They drove as fast as they could with lights flashing and sirens screaming; on the scene in less than a minute. After running up six flights of stairs arriving completely out of breath Joe saw the man as he was taking a step off of the roof top. Stop, he yelled but the man continued to take another step only this time it would be his last. Joe ran and reached out to grab the man as he started to descend, Joe was holding on to him, only to realize he was going over the edge as well. All of sudden Joe felt a big tug; it was his partner pulling him and the man back to the roof top. Both hearts racing they looked at each other with relief. They saved the man from jumping off the roof. “What did you do that for?” The man stood up and started screaming at the two emergency medical technicians, I wanted to die! He began to curse and scream at them and than out of nowhere he spat at Joe getting him in the eye. The man was inebriated and became extremely violent kicking and screaming. Joe has had nightmares since this event last November. Sometimes he wakes up screaming I got you and sometimes he wakes up relieved that he is still alive and didn’t fall off of the roof with the man. I never thought my job would be this hard, emotionally. My job is to save peoples lives and I love what I do. Joe and his partner went on to receive an award in heroism. But, what about the costs of managing emotion in his private life as well as at work.