As an Emergency Medical Technician driven to save lives I nearly lost mine to the failures. Each loss continued to fray the tether that held my sanity to this world. While searching for an understanding of death amidst my own alcoholic frenzy I stumbled upon the meaning of life and a story of self-sacrifice and redemption materialized through my eventual acceptance of the turmoil that is life. I call it The Dust of Man. I was 20-years-old when I started my EMS career as an advanced Emergency Medical Technician in a rural area. For seven years I worked with a volunteer ambulance squad with only one other emergency medical technician. The lack of volunteers made it necessary for me to go on every call possible including those involving family. It seemed my grasp on reality would slip at any moment.