It’s my hope that these words find you busily and happily engaged in the business of making your fire department a better place to be for all who are concerned. No fire department is ever as good as it might be. Unfortunately, there are far too many people, fire chiefs included, who simply wish to sit back and let things happen around them. “Change” is a bad word in their world. I never have been an advocate of this approach to organizational development. It always has been my policy to work proactively toward the goal of fire department improvement.
Recently, it was my very good fortune to be introduced to a new way for me to look at life, and I’m happy to say that it allows me to improve my approach to viewing the world.
As is often the case, this learning experience happened during the 9:15 a.m. service at the Colts Neck Reformed Church in Colts Neck, NJ. The messenger was my dear friend, Senior Pastor Scott Brown. In his sermon, Pastor Brown discussed two topics and tied them masterfully together.
His sermon spoke of the importance of salt and light to people in the Biblical times and to our modern world as well. Pastor Brown began his Biblical treatise with a discussion regarding the importance of light.
Light and salt
The easiest explanation of light involves the importance of light in illuminating dark places. Where there is no light, there can not be any movement, there can be no life.
You all know how difficult it is to operate at a nighttime fire or rescue operation when there isn’t enough light to illuminate the operational scene. That’s why so much money is spent on providing elevated lighting systems on our fire apparatus across the country. I believe that the number of trip and fall injuries has decreased in conjunction with our increased ability to navigate a well-lit fireground.
However, there is another meaning to which we attach the word light. In the Masonic world, we speak of illuminating the world with the light of our knowledge. We are taught that the Bible states, “… let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” We also are taught not to hide our light under a “bushel basket.” In this case, we are referring to shining the light of our knowledge into the dark places where ignorance exists and persists within our organizations. Each and every one of us should make shining the light of our knowledge an important part of what we do in our fire departments.
One of the basic problems that each of us faces as we seek to share our knowledge with others is the actual language that we use to portray our thoughts and ideas. We must use the commonly accepted words that are used by the people with whom we work. This has long been a problem for me, owing to the depth and range of my research and education. Sometimes, I can drift off on a cloud of excess, complicated verbiage. You know: big words. This doesn’t get the job done. I have found that it’s important to present your thoughts in simple language. In that way, you will be able to properly share your light, your knowledge, with your fellow travelers.
As for the importance of salt in the ancient world: There were two primary things that you could do with this mineral. You could use salt to improve the taste of food, and you could use salt to preserve the food in those long-ago days before refrigeration existed. Salt was what allowed meat to be preserved for use at a later time. It’s difficult to suggest which of these was the more important use for salt for the people of the ancient world, given that each was important in its own way.
You should work to become the salt for your department. Your efforts can spice up the training and education of the folks with whom you work. The manner in which you deliver your knowledge can make it more palatable and more exciting. In addition, the things that you share must be relevant, readily understandable and entertaining.
Reach out
Many years ago, my boss in the Newark, NJ, Fire Department training division told me that he felt that training had to be entertaining for it to be acceptable and useful. He said this for a simple reason, one he often shared with my fellow training division associates and me. Back at that time, we were charged with training the first couple of generations of those kids who were raised on the television programming of the 1950s and 1960s. I strongly believed that he was right about how training had to be entertaining. As a matter of fact, I still believe that he was right.
I started watching television in 1950 when my Dad bought our first TV (a 10-inch model). The programs that I recall were, in fact, quite entertaining. “Kukla, Fran and Ollie,” “The Howdy Doody Show,” and a whole array of similar children’s shows remain in my mind’s eye. Sometimes, when my father would let me stay up late, I would get to see Jackie Gleason, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar and Ed Wynn (who was known as The Texaco Fire Chief).
There was no such thing as educational television in the world of my youth. Heck, I can recall when the channel went dark just after midnight, and they closed transmissions with the national anthem and a view of the American flag waving in the breeze. Countless hours would be spent watching TV (of course, after I did my homework). I found most of it to be enjoyable and entertaining. As I moved through school, the teachers of my classes who I tend to remember took great pains to reach out and touch each of us as individuals.
Fred Hazlett, who was my senior English teacher in high school, stands out in my memory because of his ability to inspire each of us as individuals. I found his class to be quite challenging and rewarding. I tie a great deal of my success as an author to Mr. Hazlett’s ability to challenge me to deliver good written works.
I still can recall how proud I was to show him my first textbook when it was published back in 1988. He said this didn’t surprise him. In my youth, he told me that, once I found myself as an individual and began working in an area that I enjoyed, I would be a successful writer. That describes my love of the fire service to an absolute T.
That, my friends, is how I am suggesting that you should work to share the light of your knowledge. Don’t hold back. Don’t look back. Work hard to shine the bright light of your knowledge into the dark corners of the world that’s around you. And even more than that, I would suggest that you speak out for those in the world who lack the ability to speak out for themselves.
I have worked in that way for more than four decades now. When traveling to conventions, educational sessions and NFPA technical committee meetings, I have held myself up to be the representative of the “unwashed masses” in the deep and dirty trenches of the firefighting world. I delivered the message of those who weren’t able to travel to these important professional meetings. I still work to maintain that viewpoint as I travel the nation for speaking engagements and learning.
You never will know the true impact of your endeavors. That doesn’t matter. You need to keep traveling through the world, sharing the light of your knowledge and wisdom. As I approached my 70th birthday in July of 2017, I remained busy, and I continued to remain committed to doing what I have done since the 1960s. That is what I intend to do as long as I can remain relevant and capable. I am on the verge of moving away from an active, operational role in the volunteer fire service, but it’s my intention to continue to share my decades of hard-earned experience in a variety of ways.
Influence your environment
As Pastor Brown was finishing his sermon, he walked over to the thermostat for our church building’s HVAC system. It’s right on the front wall of the church where we all can see it. He suggested that it seemed out of place, being so close to the large cross on the front wall of the church. He then made a critical comment. Pastor Brown asked everyone whether we knew the difference between a thermometer and a thermostat. We all sort of looked around at each other and mumbled a bit to ourselves.
He said that the difference was quite simple but also very important. The thermometer measures heat and cold. It’s just a matter of degrees. It simply reports what it senses, no more or no less. However, the thermostat actually influences the environment of the church. If the church is cold, the thermostat reacts and tells the furnace to provide warmth. If the church is warm, the thermostat reacts and brings cool air into the worship area. What an important part of our churches’ capability to provide a rewarding worship experience.
The pastor then closed his sermon by asking each of us to use our salt and our light in such a way that we are able to influence the life of our congregation. Pastor Brown urged us to make an impact on the world around us. My friends, it was such a great sermon that we all actually clapped for him as he returned to the pulpit. I don’t believe that I ever witnessed such a reaction as this to a pastor’s sermon in all my years as a practicing Christian. It moved many of us parishioners to tears.
My advice to all of you (fire chiefs, in particular) is quite simple. Don’t be a thermometer, which merely measures the temperature of the environment in your fire department. No, my friends, I want each of you to become an organizational thermostat who actually influences the environment of your agency. Be active, be informative, be excited and share the knowledge that you’ve garnered throughout your life and career. Be the agent for change. Shine your light, and influence the taste of things. Please.
Dr. Harry Carter
HARRY R. CARTER, Ph.D., who is a Firehouse contributing editor, is a fire protection consultant based in Adelphia, NJ. He is chairman of the Board of Commissioners in Howell Township Fire District 2 and retired from the Newark, NJ, Fire Department as a battalion commander. Carter has been a member of the Adelphia Fire Company since 1971, serving as chief in 1991. He is a life member and past president of the International Society of Fire Service Instructors and life member of the NFPA. He is the immediate past president of the U.S. branch of the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) of Great Britain. Carter holds a Ph.D. in organization and management from Capella University in Minneapolis, MN.
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