Dear readers of YWN.

I am not a supervisor, coordinator, or in any other way a big “Macher”. but rather I am a simple EMT, a volunteer in Hatzalah.

I love volunteering in Hatzalah. I get to help people in their time of need. I love to do it, but it does come at a price. I often have to leave my home, put aside my work, to run out and help another yid in need. And I do it gladly, without hesitation and without complaint.

This Thursday I will be sitting down like everyone else to eat Seudas Purim with my family. I know from years past that the chance of me actually getting to enjoy the entire Seuda with my family is almost zero, and I know from past experience that the call I will be running out on my family for, is not some poor soul suffering some traumatic or medical emergency, but rather a self inflicted infliction.

We at Hatzalah will get call after call for people who are drunk.

I don’t have to explain what is wrong with excessive drinking, the immediate dangers of being incapacitated by intoxication, and the literally life wrecking problems of alcoholism. Rather this Purim before you drink yourself to oblivion or allow someone in your care to do so, I want you to also think about me. Ask yourself what right you have to pull me away from my family because you are too drunk to protect your own airway! Who gave you the right to do that?!

And what kind of chutzpa does it take, to take away resources from your entire community, tying up personnel and ambulances for your drunkenness when they may be needed for someone Chas Veshalom having a heart attack!

Chag Purim Sameach!

Say Lechaim within moderation, stay safe, and remember we are always there for you.

A Hatzolah Volunteer.