Bell-ringers

I think it's really good that high school students have to complete a certain amount of service time during their school years in order to graduate. It helps them learn that the world does not just revolve around them, for one thing, and for another, it accomplishes good things for the community.

It wouldn't have been a problem for me if that requirement had been in force during my school days, also referred to as the Paleozoic Era. I was proud to be a volunteer firefighter. It taught me a sense of duty and responsibility, gave me a feeling of comradery, and also imparted valuable tips that make me hard to be in the card game called Crazy 8s even to this day.

I'm second from left here, 1971.

My former company, Providence Volunteers, has a deal that offers free room and board at the station for volunteers who are college students. And tonight, I see that there is a similar program outside Philadelphia, where some Villanova University students are attending classes and serving as volunteer firefighters.

Colton Musselman, Anne Earp, John Burns, and Dominic Cipriani are engineering majors and volunteers. Musselman is studies mechanical engineering, and the others are majoring in civil engineering.

Also, Kylee Hall, a Villanova graduate from 2024, still serves, and she made history  as the first female line officer in the Bryn Mawr Fire Company.

Interesting that they're up in Philadelphia, where the purely American concept of volunteer fire companies was launched by Ben Franklin, who formed the Union Fire Company on December 7, 1736. Yes, Ben Franklin was a volunteer firefighter, among his other valiant pursuits.

I'll bet he was great at Crazy 8s.