First Responders at Switzer Camp, 7/21/2012

On Saturday evening I witnessed what at first, I thought of as a spectacle, but shortly changed my reaction to one of great amazement and awe. While I was at Switzer camp, in the Angeles National Forest, suddenly there came a stream of Angeles National Forest Fire trucks, Montrose Sherrif rescue vehicles, Los Angeles Fire Department trucks, paramedics; not just one vehicle of each department, but a combined total of eleven vehicles showed up one after the other in close succession. That's the part that at first I felt was like such a spectacle.
 Incredibly, they all worked in a highly coordinated manner, cool calm and collected, they went about their business diligently, keeping each other informed, and informing their respective agencies. It was awesome. Admittedly, while this was going on, I was counting vehicles, personnel, and making mental calculations of the "expenses" involved, then it dawned on me; what if the person they were attempting to rescue was me? Would I be making monetary calculations? What is the "value" of human life? These questions and a great mix of emotions kept swirling in my head.
It took some time for them to help the person they had come to rescue, they eventually had a LAFD chopper come and air lift her/him, adding to my monetary calculations. As soon as they had accomplished their mission, they were off to help some hikers that were suffering from dehydration.
That was it, this was just another day for them.  I was left with a feeling of having witnessed a common event for them but one that has affected me greatly.
 Can we really afford to make budget cuts to social services ? This and a myriad of other circumstances can befall anyone of us, and I'm quite certain that when those events do occur, money is the furthest from our minds.
 I left with an even greater conviction that we are a social being, and that by the measure that we operate within that context, the closer we get to truly being human.