Inspired by the trenches
Guest blog written by:
Logan Martinez
“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” This quote by George Bernard Shaw perfectly describes the message of a very important person who inspires me every day. My father has done a great many things for people all over the world through the public safety community, specifically dispatching, and he’s worked long and hard to get where he is now. He has become my biggest inspiration in life, to do what I want to do and to follow my dreams, no matter how seemingly impossible they are.
My father first started in Frostproof as a 911 Dispatcher, he was excited to have the job, but he learned that things weren’t going to be how he thought. Just into his first night shift a woman called in saying that her husband was dead. He had hung himself after they had gone through a bad fight and separated. This was just a glimpse of what he would experience within the trenches. After a few years he moved up north, to Allegan County in Michigan, where he would again take up a position as a 911 Dispatcher. I myself visited his work many times when I was younger, but I never remember it as darkly as he did. Many times, we’ll sit and talk about the calls he took, and the good and the bad things that happened.
Now, nearly 20 years into public safety, he is the proud owner of Within the Trenches Media, a small company created and managed by him, dedicated to public safety, its main branch is a podcast called “Within the Trenches”. During his time in dispatch, he wrote a blog, as a way to talk about things he’s gone through. Soon that blog became this podcast, telling not only his stories, but other dispatcher’s stories too, becoming like a messenger. From this podcast came his biggest achievement. #IAM911. Many do not know this, but 911 Dispatchers are classified as clerical, which is the same as a secretary, instead of protective, like the rest of the public safety community. My father wanted to help change that. To do it he wanted to show people who aren’t dispatchers how hard the job is. The spread of the movement was like a wildfire, inspiring others to share their stories. People would post about their calls, one such story goes as follows: “I heard your last breath the night you flipped your four-wheeler” with the bottom text reading, “#IAM911”. Seeing him create something like this is incredible to me, and it makes me want to not only create something to share, but for other people to share as well, and see the same value in it.
All of these things are huge for one person to create, and what’s even greater is where he started from. My dad wasn’t a rich boy, and he struggled to get where he is. During his time in dispatch, he was taking online college classes for three different degrees, one after another. Imagine that, working night shifts, coming home, sleeping for a few hours and then going right back to work, all while going to college. I attended two of his graduations, and every time it inspired me to work hard and to pursue my dreams, no matter how far they may seem, because the payoff is huge. I can see that from how things were then and how they are now. Before I didn’t get to see him a lot, work ate up his time, but now he has a freer schedule, and I see him every day. There’s not a day that goes by I’m not glad he followed his dreams.
We have looked at someone today who inspires me through his struggles and successes, my father, Ricardo Martinez. We have seen how he struggled to reach for his dreams and succeeded in using that dream to grow. His determination inspires me to work hard, never give up, and follow my dreams no matter how hard it may seem. To add to the quote by George Bernard Shaw, that life is about creating yourself, I believe that in creating ourselves, we also help others to create themselves.