Power of the Badge: In a World Divided, Firefighters can be the Glue

Oct. 6, 2017
Daniel Byrne says firefighters need to use the power of the badge to reach out and help unite the world during negative and tumultuous times.

Have you been watching the news? We appear to be a nation divided; divided along racial lines, religious lines, political lines, gender lines, and any other line that allows one side to sneer at the other. Anger and tension appear to rule the day. Agitators speak of civil war. Our citizens are watching this on the news and fear for their future and their families. Now more than ever they need their firefighters to remind them of humanity, and by doing so, provide the community glue in needs to hold things together. But to do this we need to fully understand and appreciate our true value to this new world.

As firefighters we are our own worst enemy. We do what we do and think nothing of it. But we need to take a step back and look at who we are, what we truly do, and what it all means. We need to look beneath the obvious, beneath the superficial, behind the scenes. In other words we need to have a 2 a.m., just back from a major disaster, no sleep, firehouse kitchen table discussion with ourselves.

So who are we?

Ever really ask yourself that? Of all the professions that pay more, offer more benefits, better schedules, zero risk other than spilling a hot latte mocha on your lap, where weekends and holidays actually mean something, where birthdays and anniversaries can be attended on the correct day, where vacations can truly be planned and counted on, where children can open gifts on Christmas when their eyes open without having to wait on their firefighter parent, we are here in this completely parallel universe of perpetual physical and emotional beat downs while we struggle to pay our bills and never seem to be home at the important times. Lest we forget that over 70% of us do this job for free as volunteers, and also where many of us started our journeys in the fire service. 

We accept this as just the way it is. But contrast that now with the world we live in today. This world desperately needs heroes and they desperately need the fire service. Not just for the rescues, not just for the fire suppression, not just for the emergency medicine, but for who we are and for the firefighter’s selfless character to serve our fellow man regardless of any differences, but simply because they are a human in need. The desire and willingness to do this are the basics of humanity; where we started, where we evolved from, how we survived, and what will save us. 

Survey after survey shows that firefighters are among the most trusted and respected people and professions in the nation; in fact in one Reader’s Digest survey showed that firefighters were rated as more trustworthy than airline pilots (wow) and doctors. Even with all of our scandals; from firefighter arsonists to sexual assaults in fire stations, to drug and alcohol abuse to embezzlement, the public continues to hold firefighters in the highest esteem. Why? When the media pounces on any glimmer of virtue to dispel any possibility of true goodness, our public continues to hold the line when it comes to firefighters, and they continue to burn the candle for us – no pun intended.

While some may contend that the reasons for this are obvious; the rescues, the firefighting, and the emergency responses, I challenge that the public, albeit unknowingly, are the ones who in fact see below the superficial and the obvious. They see in firefighters those very virtues of humanity. They can see the character of nobility and the honor behind that badge, and they are desperate for it. They are desperate to believe firefighters are truly the men and women who forsake all the division and resistance and whose only purpose is the humane act to end suffering. Our citizens are so desperate for that – that they apparently would put their lives, and that of their family, in the hands of a firefighter before the pilot flying their plane at 35,000 feet.

Our profession is a calling we cannot explain and that we simply answer. All the personal sacrifice for you and your family in terms of time, money, injury, fear, risk, and even death, and to do so for someone you never met before nor will ever see again, for someone who may share completely opposite views or who may possess a different faith, or even cheer on a different sports team. If we are honest with ourselves, even on our most disgruntled-emotionally draining day, we wouldn’t change a thing. Firefighters remain. They may move up, they may move laterally, but they rarely move out. On duty or off duty, present member or retired, when people are suffering and are in need the firefighter will always humbly answer that call and then subsequently dodge the limelight with an effort that commendable; and they do so because, we do what we do, and we think nothing of it. For us it’s normal. But we live in a world where normal has been perverted and distorted. That’s the whole point.

This time in our profession should not be taken lightly. We came into the profession hoping to make a difference in the lives of others, and we do not have to wait for the tones to drop to accomplish that. The fact is when the tones do drop it’s often too late. Our badge has a power that can transform communities and the lives of the citizens within it. What that badge, and the wearer of that badge, represents to our nation is something beyond the emergency scene. It is the glue in the form of basic humanity that can hold a nation divided together by proving to all that there still are people who are ready and willing to do the right thing simply because it is the right thing – the humane thing - to do. That is something to believe in. That is hope. That is what this world needs.  

That is the power of our badge. Realize who you truly are, what you represent, and what you mean to your family, friends, neighbors, and community. Live it every day, in uniform and out of uniform, because each day is an opportunity to touch the life of another. Our badge is a free pass into the lives of all because the person behind it is humanity at its best and purest.

Don’t waste this time. As Ben Parker told his soon-to-be superhero nephew Peter in the movie "Spiderman," “With great power comes great responsibility.”

We have the greatest responsibility of all. Understand what that badge means and the power it holds. The world needs you, firefighter. Now is our time. Don’t waste it.

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