Let’s Talk

September 28, 2016 –  Guest Writer: Nick Baskerville –

One day, I’m riding in the back of the fire engine, because, when you are in the fire department, that’s what you do. Then a guy looks at me and says “so, what are you good at?” “Nothing, really” “Come on, everybody’s good at something! That guy, was Marcello Trejo. He was good at plenty of things: Fitness. Compassion. Keeping people laughing. He was the kind of person that when he came to mind, I would wonder what kind of extraordinary impact he would have on the entire fire service. He was not the guy I would have thought would have taken his own life. TD Jakes talks in one of his sermons that some people can be going through turmoil and no one ever know it. Are you one of those folks with turmoil hidden behind a smile? Would you know what to do if someone you knew was that person?

I would love to time travel to a point in time to keep Marcello here. But I can’t. Instead, I figure I’d reach out to you. When I take a flight, the stewardess has in their safety briefing that when we lose cabin pressure, first put your mask, then help the person next to you. In the military and in public safety, we rarely do that. Instead, we fail to see how taking care of ourselves, can be the best things we can do to help others.

For the month of Sep, I’ve decided that every day, I’ll do 22 pushups for the military suicides that happen every day. Then another 13 Burpees to represent initiative 13, the Behavioral Health Initiative from the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives. I started to video the workouts, but then I thought “I’m no star athlete, what’s the point in that?” Instead, day morning, I’m going post something I learn about mental health or suicide. A story. A fact. Info about an organization. Sometimes it will be a video, sometimes just an encouraging word.

The challenge I have for you, not to do push ups. Go learn something new about mental health or suicide, and post on my blog at www.helpasks4u.wordpress.com  Whether the help is for you personally, Or if the help is for someone you care about, remember this:

• “Ask for Help, because help always asks for you.” Marcello Trejo