The Fabric of our Society

The Fabric of Our Society column invites industry leaders to provide experience-based opinions and discussions on various topics. Diverse perspectives are respected and most welcome, but do not necessarily reflect the opinions of IESNYC or the Board of Managers. Want to contribute? Email [email protected]

February 2025

There’s a Hero in Each of Us 

Matthew Tirschwell
CEO/Founder, Tirschwell & Co., Inc.

You may have first heard of me as the IESNYC “member of the month” back in 2020, and how I founded a boutique lighting design firm in 1999. Otherwise, I tend to keep a reasonably low profile. So, I will start off by saying that this essay is generally uncomfortable for me to write, and for you to read it.

This is not about lighting. It’s not about how important our profession is or is not. We all appreciate this business because of the stability of the industry, and the healthy pay. No, this essay is about what we choose to do outside our respective chosen professions.

Let’s jump back a few weeks. I was traveling back home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on a Friday evening. I was returning from a business trip to Los Angeles and, true to my nature (and general thriftiness), taking public transportation. With two suitcases I was exiting the 86th street subway station on the elevator when, as the doors closed, I heard quite a commotion and saw people quickly making their exit. Call it situational awareness, a trigger of fight or flight, or too much coffee – I knew something was amiss.

Once I reached the street, I walked back towards the stairs and asked someone coming up the stairs what had happened. “Someone fell in front of the train,” was his response. To me, that is the fight trigger. I carried my suitcases back down the stairs, and over to the security agent staffing the access door. I reported who I was, he let me through and even offered to watch my things as I grabbed some lifesaving gear. The rest is widely known: watch the videos and read the comments. But the result is, the individual lived due to my actions.

A tale of two cities

I love working with light, meeting amazing artists, and crafting experiences for some of the richest and most powerful people. I might personally meet with a client and spend 4 hours aiming the lighting for a single work of art that was purchased for well over $100 million. Insane. But that same evening, with Gotham Volunteer Emergency Medical Services in Queens, I might pick up a homeless intoxicated patient suffering from hypothermia; or navigate the challenge of a troubled 13-year-old and their father who just gained custody after the mother was sentenced for theft. Or a woman beaten up by her boyfriend in front of their children, or a motor vehicle accident where a driver plowed into the back of a truck and had tremendous head trauma.

It is the tale of two cities: the ivory towers of Manhattan and New Yorkers just trying to get by.

For over three decades, I have had the privilege to volunteer as a firefighter and an EMT. I love it. It gives me tremendous satisfaction that I am leaving the world better than I found it.

Volunteer EMS providers do this work every day, quietly, with only occasional live video and local news coverage. Across the country, volunteer ambulance services are the backbone of emergency response in communities that don’t have the funding for full-time services. In New York State alone there are more than 1,100 volunteer ambulance corps, filling critical gaps in our emergency response system. These organizations are often underfunded, short-staffed, and struggling – not because the work isn’t important, but because the infrastructure to support them is flailing. I founded EMS Access, a nonprofit dedicated to improving leadership, management, and sustainability in volunteer EMS; because I saw, and continue to see, dramatic declines in the ability of volunteer-based EMS to serve their communities.

Naturally, having two different worlds in my life offers the perspective of what is important. Downlight trims in a purple finish – bad decision. Drunk driver striking innocent pedestrians – life-or-death decision.

Do something

It doesn’t make my work in lighting less meaningful, but it does remind me that in the grand scheme of things, we all have a responsibility to do something to help others – something outside our day jobs. Helping others is more than looking after our immediate friends, families, or communities. The Good Samaritan helps the stranger, the person we don’t know. In times of natural disaster or on a normal workday, that’s the mindset that makes society stronger.

For me, being an EMT is part of my identity. It is not for everyone – and I get that. At the least I urge you to learn CPR and take a Stop the Bleed class. These classes are very quick, easy, and available in almost every community. (I’ll even come to your office and teach the staff during a lunch break.) You never know when you’ll be the person standing there, the one who could make a difference. Do you want to be the one who knows what to do and helps? Or the one standing there shooting video?

If medical emergencies aren’t your thing, find something else that feeds your soul. Volunteer for a food bank. Mentor a disadvantaged student. Join a community board. Use your accounting skills to help a non-profit that is still doing bookkeeping by hand. It doesn’t have to be dramatic. It just has to matter to you.

As gainfully employed New Yorkers, we are probably better off than 99 percent of the world’s population. We all have the skills, knowledge, or time to help others. The real question is whether we choose to use it. (Ack, too preachy! I am so sorry I started monologuing.)

Look, no one looks back at the end of their life and says they should have worked more. They may look back and say they watched too many sitcom reruns or spent too much time doomscrolling. Just find your own path. One that works for you and elevates your fellow New Yorkers with dignity and respect – regardless of their station.