The Wise Person Shares What They Know

It has been my experience that you just never know when a thought will strike. I was sitting on the front porch the other day enjoying a rare 60-degree January day (and one of my favorite fine cigars) when a thought came screaming into my mind’s eye. After seeing so many seemingly selfish people on television lately it came to me that the finest people among us are those who take the time to share what they know with others. Sharing and caring go well together.

Let me assure you that my life has been made better by those around me who have given me the benefit of their years of experience, as well as their knowledge. Whether it was in the U.S. Air Force, Adelphia, Rahway, or Newark, these kind people helped me to be a better firefighter and officer. In return I tried to pass on what others were generous enough to share with me. Sadly, most of these fine men have gone on to their reward, but I believe that I am keeping their spirits alive when I pass on what they taught me to the young people coming up in the service now. 

There are people in my life and in my fire company who are critical to our success, in that they have well-honed skills which they are willing to share with us all. There are those members who are great electricians. Others are capable plumbers or carpenters. Whether it is on the fireground, at the fire station, or in the homes of their friends, they share their skills and knowledge. 

Other members of the fire company have honed their mechanic’s skills to a high level. They work on our apparatus, our equipment, and on their buddy’s car. The same goes with those who have a deep and abiding knowledge of how the many tools on our apparatus operate and how they should be used. Many are the times when these folks have been kind enough to take me by the hand and show me how to use a particular tool or piece of equipment. Age is not a factor. I often look to many of our younger members to fill in the gaps in my knowledge base.

Let me now share a critical fact about me and my life. As I have gotten older I have consciously moved away from the actual nuts and bolts of interior structural firefighting. I do not believe it is in the best interests of my fellow firefighters for me to suit up, don my self-contained breathing apparatus and charge through the door into a burning building. Physically this is too much to ask of my chubby, grey-haired body. My duties are now limited to driving the pumper and providing water and support to my younger associates who are doing the actual firefighting.

While I no longer perform these strenuous tasks, I try to share my decades of experience with my associates whenever the opportunity presents itself. One of the lessons I have learned is to pick the moments when I should share my thoughts and words. The way in which you do this important task will have an impact upon the relative success or failure of your efforts.

Let me suggest that one of the things you should never do is randomly go from officer to officer telling them what you think they are doing wrong. You need to stand back and become an observer. Let me suggest that you should become an extra set of eyes on the fireground and at other emergency scenes. Do not publicly butt in. Rather you should seek to whisper your words of wisdom in the ears that need to hear them.

Let me make a critical observation. It is hard for many who have served as a chief to return to the ranks and simply do their jobs. I guess I was fortunate to have some excellent examples in my life, because when I stepped down as the fire chief in Adelphia I returned to my favorite role in the whole world. It was my good fortune to be able to return to being the driver on our 1972 Pirsch quint when I stepped down as chief on Jan. 1, 1992. I was able to go back to my old position as a driver/operator and I proceeded to drive the quint to three fire calls on New Year’s Day.

I am sure that it has not been so easy for many other people to leave a position of leadership and go back to being one of the gang. I have seen a number of folks who when their term as chief was up simply stopped coming around. This is wrong.

My friends, let me strongly suggest that you must be able to step back from your role when the time comes and move into a new (or in my case) old position. In addition, you must make yourself available as needed to share what you know with other people in your department.

Let me also suggest a number of things that you must avoid:

• Being nasty
• Being overbearing
• Rejecting the opinions of others
• Refusing to listen
• Interrupting those in command to tell them what they are doing wrong
• Gaining a reputation as a know-it-all

I guess it is never easy to realize that your time in the sun is coming to an end. Just remember that the brightest and best from every generation in history have had their time on the stage and then move on. That is just how it is in life. 

As he has done many times in the past, Pastor Scott Brown at the Colts Neck Reformed Church wrote the conclusion to this article without even knowing that I was writing it, when he covered this critical concept in a recent sermon. Actually, he began his message during the Gospel for Children when he introduced the concept of passing a baton during a race. He stressed to the children that the baton did not serve its purpose, or fulfill its mission if it was not passed from one person to another.

His sermon built upon this message. He spoke of the need to leave your world a better place than you found it. He spoke of the generations of people who have worked to live this mission; each hoping that he or she made a significant contribution to the world. They kept pushing forward, doing their work here on God’s Green Earth. They would show up each day, do their best, and then go home for some rest and refreshment. Think about it my friends. What better compliment can you make about someone than to say that they made an effort to share what they knew and that they left the world a better place? I know that this is something that I have shared a number of times during my service as the chaplain for the Adelphia and East Freehold fire companies. 

Let me close by suggesting that in order to succeed in the process of sharing your knowledge you must make yourself available. That’s right my friends, if you aren’t there, you can’t share. Never forget this. Take care and have a great day.