Empty The Trash

A Routine We All Understand

Twice a week there is something I routinely do in my home. On Sunday and Wednesday evenings I gather the trash from every room in the house. Sometimes there’s more in one room than the others. Typically the kitchen trash container is used the most so it gets emptied daily. But on Wednesdays and Sundays, every trash container in every room is emptied into the larger blue trash can that is in my garage. I then pull that trash can out to the curb in front of my house. I do this twice a week – every week! WHY?

Why the Routine Matters

Because on Monday and Thursday mornings, the city’s waste management truck is going to come by and if that blue trash can is not out on the street curb in front of m house the trash from my house will not be carted off and carried away. Then I have to deal with the stink and the possibility of it overflowing until the next “trash day”.

First Responders Carry Their Own Kind of Trash

Every FIRST RESPONDER, whether they be police, firefighters, dispatch or EMS, gathers “mental trash” on a regular basis. You see, you hear, you smell, you experience things that the vast majority of the public – INCLUDING YOUR FAMILY – will never be able to comprehend. It comes with the job. The mental “trash” is a normal accumulation in your life, just like the trash in your home happens just because you live there. As the saying goes “$h&t” happens.

What Happens When the Trash Builds Up

However, no one wants to live in a home where the trash is not regularly emptied and taken away. (Though I’ve accompanied a few police officers into homes where it looked like that was the case.) The accumulation of trash, the clutter and the smell, makes the home inhabitable. The same is true mentally and emotionally.

Thin Line Care’s Mission

ThinLine Care’s mission and my goal as a Chaplain is to equip First Responders with the skills and ability to “empty the mental trash” on a regular basis. Sometimes they just need to “dump it” onto the Chaplain so it can be carried away. Other times, they need to learn how to accomplish a good “spring cleaning” to make their “space” more appealing.

Whatever the case, I encourage you as a First Responder, develop a healthy and regular routine to empty the mental trash that accumulates on the job. If you need help… call a Chaplain. If you don’t have one… contact me!