It’s time we stopped treating our first responders like villains. Every week seems to bring a new round of criticism aimed at police, paramedics, and firefighters, the very people who run toward danger while the rest of us back away. These are men and women doing a thankless job in a terrible environment, and the constant public second-guessing, political interference, and online condemnation have made it almost impossible for them to keep their heads above water.

Yes, there are bad apples. There are bad apples in every profession, in government, in media, in healthcare, even in journalism. But the overwhelming majority of first responders are exactly the people we hope show up when things go wrong: calm under pressure, professional under fire, and compassionate even when surrounded by th

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