No one knows I nearly gave up the night before my final academy exam. After a brutal shift, I was running on zero sleep and bleeding feet. I stared at that badge, ready to quit—until my best friend texted: “You didn’t come this far to give up.”
I passed. Barely. But I did.
Years later, I nearly quit again after helping find a missing boy named Rami. He clung to me when we found him, terrified. But in the official report, my name was left out. Credit went to someone else.
That night, I took the badge off the mirror.