Whitewashed Tombs

You don't need permission to do the right thing. That seems simple enough but at times some people need it spelled out, a map drawn for them in detail, and have someone connecting the dots in crayon in order to accomplish even the simplest of tasks. Is it really that difficult? It doesn't have to be. I hope for you it isn't.

Cold and stale leadership models ripped from the pages of a fire service manual are about as ineffective as tits on a boar hog. In it's simplest measure effective leadership starts as a decision. One decides they are going to do what's right, not what's easy, and stubbornly refuse to be swayed from that path. But sometimes we mistake movement for leadership. 

A few years ago a young man, whose wife was training for a marathon, gave her a GPS watch for Christmas. She was ecstatic at first but soon after she was disappointed and asked if they could exchange or return it. When he asked why she answered that she had just ran 13 miles on the treadmill and the watch didn't show she had travelled a single step. Activity doesn't always equate progress.

Don't we do the same thing? If we schedule enough crap through the day we feel like we are getting somewhere. Instead of dealing with the big issues we just increase the incline and bump up the speed of the belt. We don't have time to train but will spend all shift on a pet project. Equipment goes unchecked, our stations neglected, and we are less prepared today than ever before. 

Some have described the difference as putting on a costume instead of a uniform. Jesus called them hypocrites. The literal meaning of hypocrite was a play actor that filled several roles in the same play who would simply change masks between roles.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." Matthew 23:27,28.

Let's create another committee, schedule another meeting and argue for weeks over the color of paint chosen to put on 50 year old walls. God forbid if there should be anyone who dares step off the treadmill and make real progress. They must be stopped at all costs, undermined at every turn, and derailed at the earliest possibility. Forget it that we offered no solutions nor been willing to break a sweat. Monday morning quarterbacks cannot be dissuaded. If morale starts to creep up we'll split up that crew "in the best interest of the department". Things like that happen when decision makers have spent their career furthering their own interests instead of in pursuit of bettering the brotherhood.

It's time we stopped pretending, took off the mask, and owned our actions. Provide real leadership or grow comfortable knowing that you will be quickly forgotten. At the end of your last shift, as your career comes to an end, how will you be remembered?

Did you make a difference to those in the community or will you be remembered as an example of how not to act?

Were the crews you worked with blessed by you or did they dread the passing of 24 hours in your presence? 

Did you leave things better than they were when you started and treat people better than you were treated?

Did you become a mentor and help young firefighters become old firefighters? Or did you waste away your time complaining about things you really had no control over to start with?

Talk less, train more. Complain less, praise more. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.