It’s the last weekend in March, which means it’s once again time here at The Post to turn our attention to honoring our men and women who serve as first responders in many professions across our city and county.

As always, we’ve enjoyed writing stories this week about everyone from members of the police department, sheriff’s office and fire departments, to volunteer fire departments, ambulance personnel and dispatchers.

For most of us – well, for most of you – you probably don’t have a first-responder story and that’s a good thing. They would likely prefer for that to be the case as well. Because, as we all know, if you DO have a story about a first responder, it’s likely the story of one of the worst days of your life. 

Now, there are certainly times when first responders show up for something that is not an emergency, and oftentimes those stories are humorous or heartwarming. I think that’s often because seeing a police officer, firefighter or medic show up for something that is sort of mundane makes everyone involved realize the situation could be so much worse and it kind of lightens the mood. At least that’s the case in my experience.

But, speaking of my experience, as someone who has been doing this newspaper job for several decades now, I do have a lot of stories that involve first responders, and many of them involve tragic circumstances. But, regardless of what newspaper I was working for at the time, what state it was located in, or whether the people involved in that particular calamity were high-profile or not, almost across the board what I have observed is the consistent bravery and selflessness of the men and women who rush into burning buildings, toward dangerous or volatile situations and turn toward, not away from, medical situations that would make most of us squirm.

I always wonder how they do it day-in and day-out. Sure, there is great training for our first responders. But they are still human beings who have to go home at some point and try to clear their heads; get some sleep; play with their kids; have normal conversations with friends and spouses; just be regular people. I know from seeing some of these things myself, that isn’t always easy. I can’t possibly imagine how much harder it must be when you are actively involved in the situations.

I say all of that to say this: Each year we implore you to say thanks to one of our area’s brave men and women who serve as first responders; to buy their meal when they are behind you at a drive-through, or to just say a prayer for them at night. And we’ll do it again this year, because 365 days since the last time we put the focus of one of our editions on these first responders, their jobs have gotten no easier. And that will be the case next March as well.

So, let’s try to brighten their days when we can. They certainly brighten – and often extend – our days when we meet them throughout the year.

Blake Bell is the general manager and executive editor of the Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at blake.bell@vicksburgpost.com.