I was called the other day to a first aid at our local tennis courts while I was on surf patrol to deal with a heart attack patient. This is not normal practice mind you, as ordinarily we just deal with the beach, not the town in general, although I think they were just desperate for a defibrillator and the ambulance had not responded, so they rang the surf club. While it is not the first life or death incident I have dealt with, it was by far the biggest learning curve. The role I played was relatively minor, as he had already had CPR for over 25 minutes, and let me tell you, the people performing that, were going extremely well. All I did was shock the guy, and monitor him really.
The thing is, when you are involved in something like that, you realize that yes life is precious and all that jazz, but also that it is fragile. A human body is not so much, it has the same amount of particles dead or alive, and it can take, well a lot. Life however, is so very breakable. A bullet smaller than my pinky finger is enough to take a life. 5 minutes without a heartbeat is enough to take a life. A blood clot the size of my fingernail or smaller is enough to take a life. Your body might still be in perfect condition, as was the gentlemen's I administered first aid to. Your life however may very well not be. In fact, you can still be alive, and not have life.
