BY BOBBY HALTON
People see their most sacred values in symbolsthe American flag, the Canadian flagand places of worship, monuments, and national historic buildings. All symbols have deep meanings. The World Trade Center was attacked because of its symbolism to freedom’s enemies. We need to respect and defend and, most importantly, be dignified stewards of our symbols, for all draw inspiration from the strength and courage they represent. Today our communities need us to reflect what they see in a fire truck.
Whether we want to admit it or not, we are what other people believe us to be. For us in the profession of firefighting, this is an honorable calling and a great responsibility. Being or becoming what others believe us to be is true for everyone and, as an outgrowth of that fundamental truth, it is the same for every institution and profession. Firefighters are internally guided to do things we believe match others’ expectations of what firefighters are or should be. We do these things to be seen as legitimate in the estimation of others, even though we might not want to believe it. We do it to be true to our own beliefs about our profession.
Living up to others’ expectations of us becomes internalized so much so that we sense them as our own sources of motivation. All of us at one time or another have said that we follow our own beliefs regardless of what other people might think. This denies the fundamental reality that everyone and every institutionincluding firefightingare only realized through others. Whether we want to admit it or not, we all care what other people think; and because we are firefighters, we care deeply. We all want to symbolize the best of what others expect from us, and we should always try to be better. We will often fall short of being a perfect firefighter, but belonging is about simply getting up and continuing to fight.
Writer Kurt Vonnegut once said, “The fire truck is the most religious symbol of man’s humanity to his fellow man.” He did not say the firefighter, or the fireman or firewoman; Vonnegut said the “fire truck” is the most religious symbol. He chose the fire truck for a very specific reason. To be everything our communities need us to be in these troubled times, we need to understand what Vonnegut meant. He was telling us that the fire service is us; it is our fire service, and that is a very heavy burden. Being worthy to represent man’s humanity to his fellow man is something to strive for over and over again. We will fail, we will come up short, and we will have bad daysthat is inevitablebut the symbol of the fire truck will always endure despite our frailties.
Kurt Vonnegut’s words express how others see us, what our mission is, and what we symbolize to the community. When Vonnegut used the word “religious,” he did not mean organized religion such as Catholicism, Judaism, or Protestantism. No, he meant religion in a much broader sense, in the sense of serving a higher purpose, and that purpose the fire truck represents is self-sacrifice for humanity’s greater good. The fire truck represents the greatest belief that anyone could ever have of another person. It symbolizes humanity’s greatest honor: “selflessness.” The community expects to see that in us, and we expect to see it in each other.
Vonnegut knew what he was doing when he chose the fire truck; he understood what a powerful symbol it is. He understood it represents not one man or one woman but rather a collective spirit that is not meek or cowardly but bold and strong. You see, he saw this tool as fast, daring, innovative, and powerfulable to carry multiple fire warriors into battle. He saw the fire truck as fearless, dedicated, and competent. Most of all, he saw it as compassionate, caring, nonjudgmental, and forgiving. This is how we see our profession and what firefighters will forever strive to be.
The honor the fire truck symbolizes comes not only from the protection of life; it comes also from the willingness to take risks in the protection of someone else’s treasures. Those treasures might be art, an automobile, a home, photos of loved ones, a business, or the family pet. The fire truck more than any other human tool represents to every community that there are members of that community who are willing to sacrifice their own precious time; their own collected treasures; and, yes, their own humanitytheir very lifein the protection of others and their treasure.
We have spent the past decade working hard to make a difference in our own personal safety and have realized many excellent results and programs. We have released our powerful talents for redefining and reexamining our fireground operations, our very culture, and we will boldly continue this worthy work. We must caution ourselves, though, because occasionally in our passion to make our profession more effective and safer, we try to control the uncontrollable. When someone involved in a tragedy does not behave as we expected or thought they should, we have all seen our emotions take over.
We often react to tragedy by saying now a firefighter must do this at every fire or must do that at every fire. We hijack the ability of future firefighters who may face a similar problem to choose for themselves what actions to take. We unfairly compare them with what the fire truck symbolizes. But we must always remember that the fire truck is the symbol against which we are held.
American and Canadian citizens more than ever before need their fire service; career and volunteer firefighters alike must return to their core value of service to humanity. We are going to be asked to sacrifice; we will be called on to compromise; and we will not fail America, Canada, or each other. We will prove ourselves worthy to ride in humanity’s most religious symbol, the fire truck. It’s about our nation’s expectations, it’s about our credibility, and it’s about the honor of the fire service.