Mac lived a pretty average life to say the least. He was 28, happily married and had one daughter with another on the way. His daughter was four years old and would be turning five over the summer. This upcoming year she'd be entering kindergarten. His wife, Tammy, gets emotional when she thinks about it, but Mac was happy she was growing up. His daughter, Sue, was the most precious thing: beautiful, smart, respectful. She was going to kindergarten and would show the world what a brilliant young lady she was. He was proud to say the least.
He wanted the best for Sue, so they had just moved from the city to Elvin, a smaller town near by, to assure she was in the best school district. Mac never wanted Sue to be limited when it came to her education, so it was his priority to make sure she had the best of the best. With the new move though, more than just their house changed. Tammy had to quit her job as a teacher in the city, but she quickly found another job as a first grade teacher in Elvin. As for Mac, he was a firefighter and to his luck, there was a shortage of firefighters in the town so he was hired right away.
He had wanted to be a firefighter since he was six years old, and firefighters had brought their truck to school. He was mesmerized, but so was every other kid in the class. The continuing weeks afterward, the majority of the class wanted to be a firefighter until the police brought their squad car to show the kids. Then everybody wanted to be a police officer — everybody, except Mac. He payed no attention to the cop car, since he was still hung up on the dream of being a firefighter.
He never outgrew it, and nothing is better than the rush he gets from doing his job. He loves that he gets to save people and their homes. He didn't like changes, but he could handle them a lot better knowing that he would get to start and end his day with one of the things he loves most. Putting fires out had become a part of who he was; his friends even called him Firefighter Mac. Without it, he'd be a different person all together.
Mac was a gregarious person and avoided people who brought him down. He had only talked to his new department shortly before and didn't get too much of a first impression based off the short moment he was there. They were nonchalant when hearing they would have someone new on their team. Maybe they were used to people coming in and out, or maybe it was just that it was Monday morning, and they had just gotten their coffee.
Mac left his house in a rush that morning, very anxious about his first day. Of course he wouldn't let his wife know this, but he was actually very intimidated by the thought of a new team. During the car ride there, he tried to listen to his regular playlist of older Elvis songs, but nothing could put him quite at ease. He wouldn't be able to calm down until he had gotten through at least his first day. He parks his car and looks around; he is the only firefighter in this town who doesn't drive a truck. He had never wanted a truck till then.
He enters the building and is met by a chorus of greetings from his fellow firefighters:
"Hey bud!"
"How ya doing?"
"Welcome!"
"Aren't you the new guy, Mac?"
He was overwhelmed, but pleased he received this rather than them ignoring him. The head firefighter introduced him to everybody, but it'd be a lie to say he remembered anyone's name besides Chad's. When he met Chad, he was sitting playing solitaire by himself. He seemed to be the calmest out of the group, and he needed time to come down from his anxiety.
"You ever played (bull****)?" The man asks Mac as he starts shuffling the deck.
"I don't believe so." He replied, hoping he would not ask him to play.
"Hey you wanna play? It's easy enough, we both just pick cards put three down and say what three they are. If you think I'm lying, call BS on me, and if I lied, you get my points, but if you don't ask, I get the points. Make sense?"
To tell you the truth, Mac didn't listen to a thing Chad had told him, so their game started off rough, but once Mac got the hang of it, he was a natural. He even beat Chad a couple times.
The men had become so invested in their game that when the siren went off they both jumped in their seat. Quickly, they ran downstairs, grabbed all the supplies needed and left. There was no time to spare in actions like these. The anticipation of the mission started building up, and he knew that what he was about to do would change someone's life, even if it was only small.
As they approached, Mac grabbed the hose in his hand, and everyone took positions. As the truck came to a lurching stop, every man jumped out, ran to their post and sprayed. Mac was very invested in extinguishing the fire, but soon after realized he was the only one spraying the house. He turned around and almost started yelling for help when he saw that every other firefighter was spraying every other house in the neighborhood except the one on fire. Frustration took over, and he knew there was no way he would be able to put this out on his own.
"Men, come and help me! There is no way we can put this fire out if we don't start all spraying the source!"
All the men look at him appalled and one yells, "Are you saying all the other houses aren't as important?"
It would be more logical and beneficial if they used some common sense and helped the building that was burning, but there was no option, so the house continued to burn to the ground while water was wasted upon dry houses.
Mac loved the thrill of firefighting, but he didn't know after today if he would be allowed to continue what he loved. He could not tolerate the idiotic thinking process of the whole ordeal. He couldn't think about how he could continue to let this happen, but he didn't know how to fix it either. Houses would continue to burn because not enough people were saving those who needed saving.
“Black Lives Matter, to use an analogy, is like if there was a subdivision and a house was on fire, the fire department wouldn’t show up and start putting water on all the houses because All Houses Matter. They would show up, and they would turn their water on the house that was burning because that’s the house that needs help the most.” - Jonathan Cunningham
DISCLAIMER: Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. All resemblance to actual people, places, incidents, or things is completely coincidental.
This quote was said by Jonathan Cunningham and incorporated into Macklemore's song White Privledge.
