The last few weeks have seen terrible tragedies in London and Manchester, tragedies that have brought communities together in the face of such pain and horror.
My sister was caught up in the attack on London Bridge, I listened as she cried on the phone trying to get somewhere safe. I was terrified, she was terrified, but I got to see her the next day. Lots of families never got that chance. There are bodies still to be found in the tower block of flats that burned through the night on Wednesday. There are families and friends who won't see their loved ones alive again. Still communities come together, they have supplied food, clothing, shelter, a shoulder to cry on, a hand to hold, arms to catch children thrown from windows. They have offered some hope and light in the darkness.
A significant bright light in the darkness this last few weeks has been that of our emergency services. Police officers getting people to safety, taking on armed murderers, stepping in to unknown situations. Paramedics seeing to the injured, making life saving decisions, taking people to hospital to the hands of surgeons, nurses and doctors. Firefighters running up the stairs of a burning building as those who lived there ran in the other direction to safety, going through the smouldering ruins room by room looking for survivors and removing the deceased, writing their own names and numbers on their helmets in case they themselves never made it out alive.
We often hear of people bitching about our police force, giving them a hard time for checking speed limits, being too slow to get to an incident. We hear complaints of paramedics taking to long to get to someone who needs them. We hear of a firefighter plucking a cat out of a tree and people wonder if that's the extent of their work that day. There have been cutbacks in all of our emergency services, men and women losing their jobs when they could be saving lives and making a difference. When things get difficult, when darkness descends, they are there. We have seen it in the selfless, heroic work this last few weeks.
So although I can't really put in to words just how grateful I am, I want to say thank you to our emergency services. May God bless them as they work to protect our country, and surround them with his peace and loving presence each and every day.
My sister was caught up in the attack on London Bridge, I listened as she cried on the phone trying to get somewhere safe. I was terrified, she was terrified, but I got to see her the next day. Lots of families never got that chance. There are bodies still to be found in the tower block of flats that burned through the night on Wednesday. There are families and friends who won't see their loved ones alive again. Still communities come together, they have supplied food, clothing, shelter, a shoulder to cry on, a hand to hold, arms to catch children thrown from windows. They have offered some hope and light in the darkness.
A significant bright light in the darkness this last few weeks has been that of our emergency services. Police officers getting people to safety, taking on armed murderers, stepping in to unknown situations. Paramedics seeing to the injured, making life saving decisions, taking people to hospital to the hands of surgeons, nurses and doctors. Firefighters running up the stairs of a burning building as those who lived there ran in the other direction to safety, going through the smouldering ruins room by room looking for survivors and removing the deceased, writing their own names and numbers on their helmets in case they themselves never made it out alive.
We often hear of people bitching about our police force, giving them a hard time for checking speed limits, being too slow to get to an incident. We hear complaints of paramedics taking to long to get to someone who needs them. We hear of a firefighter plucking a cat out of a tree and people wonder if that's the extent of their work that day. There have been cutbacks in all of our emergency services, men and women losing their jobs when they could be saving lives and making a difference. When things get difficult, when darkness descends, they are there. We have seen it in the selfless, heroic work this last few weeks.
So although I can't really put in to words just how grateful I am, I want to say thank you to our emergency services. May God bless them as they work to protect our country, and surround them with his peace and loving presence each and every day.