Interview with Alex C Hernandez Sr - The Culture News

Interview with Alex C Hernandez Sr - The Culture News

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon,Welcome on the Culture News. My name
is David savi Ro and I havethe pleasure to have today on iHeartRadio and
also on all the platforms the veryvery talented author. But it's more than
that we're going to talk about it. His name is mister Alex c.

(00:20):
Hernandez Senior. What a beautiful name. He has released a new book called
The Audacity of Indifference. These arestories from a paramedics life and career,
and this is the volume one.Volume two is on the way. Ladies,
such a money. It is mypleasure to have today on the Culture

(00:42):
News mister Alex c Ernandez Senior.Alex, how are you today? I'm
doing great. Thank you for havingme today, David, I really appreciate
it. It's an honor and aprivilege. First of all, thank you
for everything you're doing. Thank youfor your service, thank you for saving
lives. Thank you for all thegreat things that you are doing. And

(01:04):
we hear about it all on yourwonderful new books. So the first question
I had for you, Alex iswhere are you from and what brought you
to become a paramedic? Well,yeah, so thank you for having me
once again, and as far asI'm from, originally born in the Chicago
area, but raised primarily here insouthern California. And you know, the

(01:29):
story of becoming a paramedic is actuallyin the book, so I don't want
to give too much away, butI will tell you that it starts with
my name. My name Alex Ifound out, which is also part of
the book. But I found outthe meaning of my name when I was
really young. I was in fourthgrade and I, long story short,
found out that my name means helperand defender of mankind, which was a

(01:53):
very profound moment for me in mylife. And I really have been trying
to live up to that name eversince fourth grade and ultimately led me to
becoming a paramedic. And I stilltry to live up to that name and
everything I do. Last night,I just had the opportunity to attend a
public safety academy of graduation where Igot to speak about my book, and

(02:16):
also I told the kids there thatare graduating their high school graduates now that
they need to find their purpose,they need to find the meaning of their
name. And you know, ultimately, we all when you're young and you're
in high school, you're trying tofind out what you want to be when
you grow up, and so Iwas encouraging them to find their purpose and

(02:39):
ultimately that was my message, andultimately I found my purpose when I was
in fourth grade. Wow, andwhat do you like so much? I
know it's a very easy question,but what do you like so much about
being a paramedic? Well? Ibelieve that the best thing is being able

(03:00):
to have an impact on the community. And some people wonder if they actually
are ever making a difference. Iknow that I'm making a difference and I
do so every day. It mightbe just one life at a time,
but I still feel like I'm makinga difference and having the opportunity to connect
with people and yes, to savelives. It is rewarding. And I

(03:23):
can also say that I do thingsthat I know some people will never deal
with, never see, never doin their lives. So I feel very
privileged and it's an honor to beable to support my community as a paramedic.
Well, and what would you sayare the pros and cons of your

(03:43):
profession? Well, the pros aredealing with people and the cons are dealing
with people, especially some of theexperiences we deal with them in because we
see the best of the world,we see the worst of the world,
you know. I see people atthe beginning of their life and the end

(04:05):
of their life and everything in between. And there are some difficult moments,
you know, where you are seeingpeople's life come to an end, and
it is, you know, verymoving. Touching real world experiences and also
seeing the suffering of others is notsomething I enjoy necessarily, but I do

(04:30):
enjoy being the one that could havean impact, even on the person that
remains, you know, putting ahand on the shoulder often condolences, trying
to connect to them on a humanlevel means something to me and it's something
that I try to do. Infact, as a paramedic, I always
try to treat everybody as if they'remy family. They're my father, They're

(04:50):
not my son, they're my brother. And I really use it as a
guiding principle on a daily basis,and I believe, I like to believe
I succeed in that area, andyou do succeed, and do you sometimes
you know, see again the peoplethat you save their lives and they want

(05:13):
to try and reach out to you. A little bit to thank you,
to take you out for dinner orstuff like that. These things happen or
no. Yeah, actually I've evenhad some of my patients buy my book,
so yeah, so definitely I havesome experiences where they reach out,

(05:34):
and oftentimes it's there, you know, at the hospital. So not everybody's
dying on every call that I goto. Sometimes they're just hurt and I
connect with them and then I've actuallysigned a book for them before I leave
them at the hospital. So it'sbeen a sort of an interesting experience ever

(05:56):
since I wrote a book. Ido these impromptu book signings, have doctors
and nurses and other paramedics and firefightersbuying books from me really on the spot.
So it's it's definitely cool, andI want to sell of course that
your Your book is available on Amazon, dear friends of Amazon, and the

(06:17):
book is available on the Kindle editionof course, hardcover and paperback. But
also, and I think that's that'snot bad, that's actually a good thing.
The audiobook is available on the Audible. You can definitely listen to it
and read it and take it withyou on the phone and everywhere. It's

(06:39):
really, really a wonderful wonderful bookthat I really really want to advise and
recommend everyone to read it. Iwas going to say watch it, but
you know, in a way,it's you kind of see the actions happening.
So now talking really about the book, what motivated you to do book?

(07:03):
Well, originally I actually started writingstories throughout my career, just kind
of sporadically, but I kind ofundertook a journey last year. I realized
that I was having a difficult timewith something really profound for my childhood,
which was my relationship with my mother. So originally the title for the book

(07:24):
was My Mother Stories. It wasjust a working title. So I had
my mom abandoned me when I wasa child, and I left a hole
in my heart, and that's actuallywhy I have the image on the book
cover that I do, which isrepresented here. You see this image of

(07:45):
what was supposed to be my mother. I had a mother size hole in
my heart because, like I said, she abandoned me. And I realized,
even as an adult, that Iwas impacted you in a really strong
way, and I felt like Ihad to do something about it. So
I started writing to my mother.I started writing about my mother. I
tried to try to discover how sheoperated, how she was capable of making

(08:11):
the decisions she made, because Ithink as a parent now myself, I
could never fathom a scenario where Iwould leave my children. And not only
does she leave us, she wouldnot call us, she would not write
us. We didn't have text messagingback then, but I'm pretty sure if
she did have that capability, shewouldn't have sent me a text. There

(08:31):
was nothing. I just can't seehow someone can do that. So I
started writing to kind of work throughthat, and then I decided that I
wanted to incorporate my career because there'svery similar aspects to my life and my
career, and that's where the titlereally stems from. Because what I ultimately

(08:52):
tell people is I saw the audacityof indifference on display first in my own
parents, and now I often seethe audacity of indifference on display on nearly
a daily basis as a paramedic.Well, it's so inspiring what you're saying,

(09:13):
and thank you really for sharing this. So what would you say the
book has taught you the most?And because we often talk about what a
book is bringing to the audience,but I realize even when I do a
movie that I'm the one who learnsthe most, you know, or the
end of the movie. So youwhen you do when you did that book?

(09:37):
What that book you think brought youthe most? I think it brought
me closure the most. I reallydo. And I think my book was
not intended to be a self helpbook, but I realize there are definitely
elements of self help in the book. I think people can benefit from reading
it, not so much from youknow, my experiences may not be exactly

(10:01):
like theirs. However, all ofus need to find closure. All of
us need to work through something.And I believe that all of us are
on a journey and unless we addressissues that are, you know, from
our childhood, from difficult moments inour lives, we're going to continue to
be sort of held down by them. One of the people I talk about

(10:24):
in my book is my brother,and I believe that my brother is still
carrying burdens that he could release ifhe would only undertake the same thing I
did, which is a desire tofix a relationship, a very broken relationship
with my mother. I actually hadto forgive my mother, even though she

(10:46):
refused to apologize. That's a difficultthing to do, but I did it
not so much for her benefit.I did it for my benefit, because
harboring ill will towards another doesn't helpyou. It burdens you. You know,
you're drinking poison every day expecting someoneelse to get sick. But the

(11:07):
real one who gets sick is you. So I had a healing experience.
It was a cathartic journey for me. I feel better having written in and
ultimately I believe that I did riseto the point of working through my problems
with my mother. Wow, it'sso inspiring. Thank you so much.

(11:28):
So before we start to say Icould stay hours talking with you, you
know, but before we start tosay goodbye to each other. So what
I want to thank a friend,Eric Williams, who told me about your
book and told me about what youdo, and I was like so mesmerized.
And I don't think you know,we pay attention these days to the

(11:54):
souls that are behind the nine toone one, you know what I mean,
Like, we think it's just numberand all these people are granted to
do everything they can for us,but we tend to forget that behind that
there are men and women who alsohave their own issues and their own journey,

(12:16):
I should say, and that weshould also definitely listen. And this
is why you book The Audacity ofIndifference. What a beautiful title, The
Audacity of Indifference. Think about that, Stories from a paramedics life and career.
That is beautiful, beautiful book bythe wonderful Alexander see Her nowadays senior.

(12:41):
And of course you can buy thebook on several platforms including Amazon,
Kindled the hardcover, but also theaudio book. This is definitely definitely your
book to have, and I seeit also as a TV series, as
a movie. But that's you know, the sight of me. I hope

(13:03):
he's going to convert to that.So what advice is would you give to
someone who wants to become a paramedicbefore we say goodbye to each other?
Well, yeah, so the adviceI would have is you have to be
willing to sacrifice, you have tobe willing to work hard, and you

(13:24):
have to be willing to really hitthe books. You know, there's a
lot of things that we learn.I see there's been a big change in
emergency medical services. Once upon atime we were merely referred to as ambulance
drivers. And I still get referto that way, but I think that
comes from a lack of understanding ofwhat we are capable of. We are
no longer ambulance drivers. We aremedical professionals and we held to a very

(13:48):
high standard and we know about cardiology, pharmacology, ekg. We could perform
advanced procedures and it's going to takea lot of commitment to learn that and
a lot of hard work. SoI would say, be willing to work
hard, roll up your sleeves andget dirty. And also, you know

(14:09):
you should know, just like Isay in the book, there's a lot
about of the Brochure moments, Soprepare yourself mentally, physically, spiritually because
you are going to be challenging,going to be dealing with some very difficult
situations. Well, no matter what, we will always be there to support
you and to applaud all the greatthings that you are doing. Ladies and

(14:31):
gentlemen. My name is David sowe wrote. I had the pleasure in
the honor to interview the wonderful misterAlex C. Hernandez Senior, who has
released this wonderful book called The Audacityof Indifference, Stories from a Paramedics Life
and career. It's a beautiful book, definitely, and I want every doctor,

(14:54):
nursays, everyone around to read andpurchase that book. You go on
Amazon and you know you can watchit, you can read it on Kindle
and also buy it, and youcan listen to the audio version on audible.
It's a wonderful book. And rightnow more music to follow up on

(15:16):
iHeartRadio. It's a beautiful day.Stay with us.