Memorial Day

It's hard to believe it's Memorial Day yet again. And yet again, I am struck by how Memorial Day falls at such a hopeful time of year. The weather is getting warmer and we're seeing more of the sun. Things are starting to turn green again. There is a sort of hopeful and joyous feel to the season. I think this is really what Memorial Day should be about. We remember those who have died during or after serving this nation and others. Despite a falling housing market and rising food and gas prices, we still live in one of the greatest nations on this planet. We ought to remember those who have sacrificed for us and be hopeful for the future they have fought for.

As an EMS officer on a fire department, I also ask that in addition to the brave men and women we honor who wore military uniforms, that we remember those who serve in fire and EMS departments and who have given their lives for others. So far this year, there have been five line of duty EMS deaths as well as forty-eight firefighter line of duty deaths including that of Raymond Barrett Sr. here in my own state of NJ.

Sometimes people suck, but a lot of the time they don't

So in the past week, I have had to deal with an unusual number of people that suck. There was the person that did something terrible to one of my clients. There was the person who sent me a nasty email for doing my job. There was the person who sent a friend a nasty email for something completely petty while they were dealing with the loss of a family member (and yes, I let the nasty email sender on that one have it good).

But, I am reminded as I type this, that it is the people who do lousy things that we preoccupy ourselves with, but for each of those people, there was at least one who did something, perhaps unexpected, that was done solely to make things better for someone else. There was the co-worker who surprised me with a completely silly little gift on Friday. There was the group that went to the wake for my above friend's family member, even though none of us knew the person who had passed nor any of the friend's other family members. There were the folks who offered encouragement as I went to interview for grad school this past week (oh yeah, that happened too). There was the co-worker who really stuck his neck out to help one of my clients and my boss who backed him up when he needed it. So as I type this, I am doing my best to push out of mind those people who failed to show respect and decency in favor of recognizing those who did the little things that made my week just a little bit better.

Sketchy?

So what do folks think? Is it sketchy to make introductions to someone you've never met via social networking sites, particularly those that cater to those looking to find significant others, hookups, etc.? I have communicated with a few of my readers here via AIM. For some reason, I don't find that odd. They have read all about my life, and contacting me on AIM seems a perfectly logical connection. I'm not sure why that seems so perfectly normal to me. What I'm wondering about are sites like MySpace, Gay.com, etc. If you see a guy on a site like that and you think they'd be interesting based on their profile, is it OK to contact them? I think even more than that, would you consider it a "normal" thing to do? Would it be sketchy? I suppose that if they have put this information on the site and indicate that they are looking for something in particular, ie. relationship, hookup, friends, etc. that they must be ok with hearing from people? For some reason, I've never found it something I'm terribly comfortable with. I just feel like there's such room for misrepresentation. Perhaps, for better or worse, I just don't trust people, especially folks I have not met through someone I know or that I have never met personally. For those of you now wondering, no need to go back to former posts. My AIM screen name is traumajunkie1046.

In other news, life is so busy at work and I have so much going on with my clients, that my boss has basically given me access to two of my co-workers since I haven't quite mastered being in three or four places at once. It's mostly good stuff, but man, I never pictured being this busy.