Little Life Lessons

I've been teaching EMT's for years, and let me tell you, there's nothing so satisfying as that look of discovery on a student's face when the light bulb finally comes on. Instructors live for such moments.

The Borg has partnered me with green partners ever since I started here, and I try to impart a little of the experience and wisdom I've earned over the years. I mentor them, fill in the gaps in their knowledge, perhaps season them a bit, and ready them for paramedic school. Thus far, all of my previous partners are now medics, or currently in school. They've all been successful. I'm kinda proud of that, actually.

And since I'm literally old enough to be father to most of them, I sometimes get a little paternalistic, and teach some of life's lessons that have nothing to do with EMS; the things they'll need to succeed in life.

Like early this morning, for example, when I took the opportunity afforded by a slow Christmas Eve to teach Betty Rubble the most accurate -and most importantly, repeatable – way to bounce a quarter off a table into a Dixie cup. Hard to believe she made in through high school and a couple years of college without mastering that vital skill, but apparently she took different electives than I did in school.

You'd think the poor kid had never seen a man roll a quarter off his nose before.