The Two Large Trees on St. Ignatius Drive

By Saruhan Hatipoglu
EMT-B, Waldorf, Md.

Abraham Lincoln once said that character was like a tree and reputation its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it and the tree is the real thing. As I started going to the Waldorf EMS Station 3 in Maryland, more often as a volunteer EMT-B, I began to think more frequently what "character" means in broader concepts.

I am, by profession, an economist and financial consultant. I witness "characters" in my field all the time. Characters that talk about the downturn of the economy and how they had been warning it was coming for years, characters who try to make sense of the mortgage crisis, and more characters giving everyone advise about how to assure economic recovery and financial stability from this point on.

After I finish my work day witnessing these characters on a regular basis, I get into my car, mostly on Tuesdays, and drive 30 miles from Alexandria, Va., to Waldorf, Md., where I enter a new world and witness a quite different, almost unique group of characters.

This type of "character" is built on the desire to serve the community and help those that need emergency assistance without expecting anything in return. This "character" is not designed to produce excuses or save face under difficult and challenging conditions but rather thrive on those situations with the desire to perform at the optimum level for the sake of someone else.

This "character" is able to put everything that drives his/her personal and professional life aside, and place the interests of the community above his/her own as emergency personnel, both as volunteers and paid staff. Above all, this "character" is not built and feeds on greed, but directed by the willingness to give to the community, in good or bad economic times alike.

I am proud to be a part of this community and engage with this group of people on a regular basis. When the emergency sirens go off at EMS 3, a new adventure begins. At that point, volunteers and paid staff in the station leave aside everything that have been going on in their lives and come together working as a team to respond to emergency scenes with the sole objective of helping the injured and taking care of the needy.

It is not only EMS 3 Waldorf, Md., that houses this group of people. This dedication is all around the country. Mark Twain often talked about the abundance of physical but rarity of moral courage in humans. How I wish he could walk through the doors of EMS 3 Waldorf, or any other volunteer-based EMS stations around the country, and spend a few hours there. No doubt this literary genius would have renewed his belief in mankind because he would be witnessing a unique environment, where physical and moral courage so vividly fuse together and bring out the best in all of us.

Sometimes, it helps me, or I guess, all of us to remind ourselves that we have such dedicated people that can, on a daily basis, rise above challenges to take care of the needs of the community. EMS 3 Waldorf is one of many stations across the country that houses this group of people. I feel lucky every day that I am a part of this community, who is also a part of a larger one across the United States.

There are two large trees on the entrance to the EMS 3 Station in Waldorf on St. Ignatius Drive. On a bright sunny day, when the sun shines on the trees at a certain angle, their shadows hit on both sides of the entrance. And, when you walk inside every day in between those two trees, the reputation of the shadows turns into the real character of the place and you cannot help but feel privileged to be a part of it.