I have long thought that the comment by Kurt Vonnegut, “I Can Think of No More Stirring Symbol of Man’s Humanity to Man than a Fire Engine,” is beautiful and inspiring. However eloquent and sincere Mr. Vonnegut’s comment is, I think it misses the mark. I think a more correct statement would be, “I can think of no more stirring symbol of man’s humanity to man than a firefighter.” The fire truck, as iconic and as beautiful and symbolic as it is, is but a machine. I think the actual firefighter, that charismatic, heroic, quintessential image of all that is good, honest, and noble, is far more fitting when we think of man’s humanity to man. This realization imposes tremendous demands on our leaders.
As we examine the great firefighters, the enduring vision of each of them is that of a true firefighter and a gentleperson, that particular blend of authority and morality that connotes competence, good manners, restraint, and elitism. It becomes self-evident that how one conducts oneself in a manner of honor, courage, and civility is dictated by one’s background and one’s education as a gentleman or gentlewoman. Much of that education and training we receive from our parents. George Washington is noted for saying, “All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual, and physical education I received from her.”
There is a school of thought that believes we’re also born with a certain set of character traits, if you will, a certain set of inclinations and predispositions. That may well be the case, and over this initial preconditioning we have little influence initially. This theory is in reaction to the legacy that we have from the age of Enlightenment in which philosophers referred to individuals at birth as “a tabula rasa,” or blank slate, on which our upbringing and our environment would write our characters and our personalities. Regardless of which theory you find most authentic, both theories agree that with training, with example, and with exposure and habit, one can create, if you will, a “character.”
For firefighters, this character should involve fundamental values such as honesty, integrity, duty, self-control, and sympathy, to name a few. This character should involve certain basic principles such as devotion to the mission, loyalty to fellow firefighters, respect for authority, and desire to reflect the highest moral ideals. To achieve these great ideals, it is necessary to embody these virtues and principles as best we can and to practice diligently to improve on them in ourselves. We must believe in higher principles, greater ideals, and lofty considerations. Benjamin Disraeli once said, “Nurture your minds with great thoughts; to believe in the heroic makes heroes.”
It is possible that with the right mentoring, the right examples and diligence, we can help good men and women become great firefighters. We can imbue people with heroic dreams, and we can be symbols of honor and integrity to our communities. Our industry has a tradition of heroism. Tradition is from the Latin word trader, to hand down. One definition of it is, “The handing down of opinions, practices, customs from one generation to another by oral communications without written memorials, in other words, by example.” It has often been remarked that the highest praise a firefighter could receive at retirement or death is that he lived and worked according to the best traditions of the fire service.
More than 150 years ago, Captain Basil Hall of Her Majesty’s Royal Navy wrote: “And certainly as far as my own observations and inquiries have gone, I have found reason to believe that those officers who are the best informed and the best bred, and who possess the most of the true spirit of the gentleman, are not only the safest to trust in command of others, but are always the readiest to yield that prompt and cheerful obedience to their superiors, which is the mainspring of good order. Such men respect themselves so justly and value their own true dignity of character so much and are at all times so sensitively alive to the humiliation of incurring reproach, that they are extremely cautious in how they expose themselves to merited censure. From the early and constant exercise of genuine politeness, they become habitually considerate of the feelings of others and thus, by the combined action of these great principles and manners, officers of the stamp contrive to get through far more work, and generally do it much better, than persons of less refinement. Moreover, they consider nothing beneath their closest attention which falls within the limits of their duty; and, as a leading part of this principle, they are most patient as well as vigilant superintendents of the labors of those placed under their authority, of any man I have ever seen.”
The good captain put a tremendous burden on the officer-not an unreasonable burden, considering the incredible deference and legacy the fire officer has to honor; uphold; and, most importantly, impress on and demand of others in our service. All firefighters, but especially officers, must accept this responsibility. And this acceptance is a moral and intellectual problem of no small dimension for men and women who have little real-world experience in the fire service. For it is from that experience in the field that one is able to refine one’s virtues. It is from that experience of ascending the ranks sequentially by merit-without shortcuts or bypasses-that one is able to repair shortcomings with regard to principles. Indisputably, you, the firefighter, are the most stirring example of man’s humanity to man.
A Fall from Grace
Sacred Obligation, Failure Is Unacceptable
The Heroic Dream
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