RUN SHEET
02/03/04
I'm of the firm belief that we all need to stop for a minute, step back and take a good, clear look at just who the hell we are.
I just got home from a fire call. It was a pretty run-of-the-mill fire. A garbage dumpster beside a 7-11 store. As a matter of fact, it was the same dumpster we've extinguished probably twenty or thirty times in the last ten years. Every time some little miscreant ignites it, some late-night denizens of Klambucket falls stand around and watch the rig pull in, the crew jump off, line get pulled and air packs get donned. They watch us fight the fire, pick up our hoses and go home. Each time someone gets a thrill out of it.
Tonight as we were putting the hose back on the truck at the hall one of the guys said (in all seriousness)
"Hey guys, let's hurry this up, we're missing Third Watch!"
It took me a minute to process what he said, but it made quite an impact on me.
Here was a guy who IS a Firefighter, he's a guy who lives the life, rides the rigs, does everything that they do on that show and more, and here he is, saying "C'mon guys, let's hurry up and get done being real Firefighters so we can go watch a bunch of people pretend to be Firefighters".
I mean really, let's have a good look at just who we are and how we spend our lives. In the last week I've had good people talk to me like they are below notice because they are ordinary.
That Firefighter has lost sight of just how lucky he is. Like so many of us he's listened to the television tell him that he's not as valuable as the myths they sell. He's forgotten that he's a good father, a hard worker, honest, loyal and caring. He's forgotten that he has integrity and honour, and that he has set appropriate priorities in his life.
That's an ordinary guy. people like that, whether men or women make up the overwhelmingly vast majority of the people around us, whether the news would have us believe it or not. Most people are ordinary, decent people. The assholes are the minority, they just get more press.
So I say celebrate your ordinariness, take note that you do good things every day. give yourself credit where credit is due.
Don't hurry through real life so that you can sit on your ass and watch someone pretend to be YOU.