Large Fierce Mammal

During my six year stint as Emergency Measures Coordinator for the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg, one of my areas of responsibility was overseeing creation and exercising of realistic emergency preparedness plans for two County hospitals, and five nursing homes. Up until then, the writing of emergency plans was always tasked internally to some administrative staff member with little to no training or experience in the area, simply to meet a licensing requirement, and seemed always to be viewed as either a punishment detail, or something akin to the results of drawing the short straw.

Coming out of that atmosphere into the new reality that included the Devil me, the people involved were at once relieved and mortified, particularly in areas that involved long held but completely inaccurate understanding of where their own responsibilities ended with respect to what the Police could and would do for them under an assortment of circumstances. One of these was a bomb threat called in or otherwise communicated to the facility.

Heretofore, every plan I read dealt with such an incident the same way – run. Treat the situation like a major fire and evacuate everybody as quickly as possible. There was much protestation when the dark Truth was revealed – that absent a known location where a device may be placed, or a close proximity in time between now and a stated time of detonation that left no time to act, before leaving your own immediate work space, do a quick search of it for anything that doesn’t belong. If there was ever an inducement for keeping your office or other work space clean and tidy, this is it.

A plan was put in place to quickly and clearly mark cleared areas before evacuating, and likewise areas that contained suspicious objects. Staff were cautioned only to identify, not to second guess, NEVER to touch, and if anything was found, NEVER to presume it’s the only one. That anything unusual was to be reported to Police immediately.

It was a bitter pill to swallow, after years of absorbing from TV and movies that all you had to do was call the Police and the trusty Bomb Squad would do the rest, to learn that people familiar with the building and its accustomed contents could do in seconds what anyone unfamiliar with it would take hours, or even days to do, at no small peril to themselves through duration of exposure.

Well, bless their black hearts that the message got through to most in the end, but naturally there exists in every population a component of people who just don’t get the fucking message, and it is to those that Tonight’s Dark Sentiment is dedicated.

A Little Courage

By LFM

A little surprise comes to those who abide
Where there’s threat that a bomb has been planted.
Though help may be coming, and hearts may be drumming,
There’s something you shan’t take for granted.

None better than you knows the place where you toil
Morning bell to the late supper gong,
So you’ll need to inspect with an eye to detect
What is present but doesn’t belong.

So don’t you be rushing to head for the door,
And leave looking for others to do.
Where evil’s not seen doesn’t mean it’s not been,
And none knows the place better than you.

Ere you pass off the problem to somebody else,
Just be sure of the one that you pass.
That it’s real and true, and not offered so you
Can leave others to cover your ass.

So look to your kinsmen, and look to your Clan,
Your Friends and your Comrades withal,
And include as you do the stout hearted crew
Who are coming to answer your call.