If you know me, and a lot of you do by now, you know I have a special place in my heart for the first responders. My husband is retired police, and my brother-in-law is a firefighter.

So I have a healthy respect and appreciation for what they do, day in and day out. Yes, I know, there are always some in every job that aren’t a perfect fit, to say it gently, but 95 percent of the first responders do what they do out of a love for service.

The last week has been a tough one — two fatal shootings, three fatal accidents. And all I have to do is show up and write about it. I don’t have to get into the weeds and see every victim and every family member affected, but I get close enough to have a very good idea of all they deal with. The police, sheriffs, firefighters, EMTs, ambulance and emergency staff, they are our front line of defense civilly. And they carry the weight of all of our tragedies combined.

And after all these years, they have become kind enough to trust me at the scene, knowing I will stay out of the way. But I often end up closer than most.

That’s not bragging, do not misunderstand me. I say that only because I know every incident hurts me, and I don’t know, hand to God, how some of these men and women continue to get up every day, put on their uniforms and go back to work. I don’t know how they don’t carry that ever-increasing weight until their shoulders just can’t hold it anymore.

But I am beyond grateful that they do. And I’m more than a little tired of the constant criticism. No denying there are issues, but let’s get down to brass tacks — when the worst thing in the world is happening to you, they come running. Shots fired, they come to save you. House on fire and you can’t get out, they’re coming in after you. Car crash and you or someone you love is stuck? They’re working to get you out. Husband has had a heart attack? They’re starting CPR and rushing him to the hospital.

The list goes on, but you get the idea. These are the people that I grew up thinking of as heroes. They are the ones who run IN when everyone else runs OUT. And they have seen and had to live with some terrible things, including moments when, despite their best efforts, they cannot save someone. And they feel they’ve failed.

It’s time to give them a little grace, and a little appreciation. It doesn’t mean we don’t acknowledge or continue to address issues and work to weed out the bad apples. We stay that course.

But we don’t paint them all with the same broad brush. We need to recognize what they do, all day, every day, and the amount of stress that comes with it, as well as the emotions they push away every single day.

We thank our veterans every time we see them. We shake their hands and pat their backs and show our appreciation.

Maybe once in a while we can do the same for our police, our firefighters, our EMTs, our ambulance and emergency personnel. If we can’t lighten their load, at least we can let them know we see them, we know the job they have taken on, and we appreciate them.

Elisabeth Strillacci covers crime, courts, Spencer, East Spencer and Kannapolis for the Salisbury Post.