Giving and Saying Thanks
I usually write something about Thanksgiving and this week I think that is where I will head with the commentary and I will give it a fire service and personal spin.
I would ask as you read these individual thoughts below you give some thanks for those very same thoughts this week as you reflect on the Thanksgiving Holidays. These thoughts certainly are not mine alone and I am sure any in the fire service share some similar ones. My goal is to express my own thanks but I want to provoke you to think of these same things and apply them to your own life and work environment.
I am extremely thankful and blessed to have a wife and family that has endured all of the personal and professional stress that has been shared with them by my professional fire service career. I am thankful for my parents (both now passed away) who allowed me to pursue the silly idea of become a young volunteer firefighter and even start down the path I have traveled.
I am thankful for my close and personal friends with whom I can share the good and bad times. True and close friends are few, acquaintances are many. I have a handful of true close friends and I hope I show my thanks to them each and every day and contact I have with them. I would be nothing without them.
I am very thankful for the opportunities and "gifts" of chance and belief that others have had in me during my career. You do not achieve anything of magnitude by yourself. There are many people who create opportunities and environments for that to happen and you should realize that many things that happen in your life may have been crafted behind the scenes by folks who believe and trust in you.
I am so very grateful that I have had the pleasure of being a member of the greatest profession in the world. One whose sole mission is that of helping others. I am also glad folks are there who remind me that it is about those "others" we serve and not about us. Not everyone gets to have two "families".
I am thankful for all of the terrible tragedies that I have witnessed and endured. I am not thankful at all that they occurred, but I am thankful for what they have given to me. The times I was able to help a person in need gave me satisfaction and reward. I am thankful for the skill and training I needed to help in those situations. The times when nothing could be done, and I was able to show compassion and caring for families that remained, I am thankful for the strength and presence I was given to do that. The painful lessons and memories which now make me safer personally, make my family and others better, I am thankful for those lessons as hard as they were to learn and carry with me today.
I am thankful for all of the fire service leaders and mentors who have shared their knowledge skills and lessons with me. It truly has been a gift I can never repay as I have gained so much from others.
I m thankful for my co-workers and people that I have been fortunate enough to have shared experiences with. I have met and been fortunate to work with some of the most professional dedicated fire service professionals I have ever encountered. Some people talk about fire service heroes. In a couple of cases my actions have been called heroic. I am not a hero by any means, but I do get to work with them
I am thankful for the given abilities I have to express myself and instruct others. There are certainly days when I don't know how I will be able to do it but I am always given the strength and the right words to be able to articulate my point and I am fortunate that I have been granted the opportunities and the abilities to share knowledge with others.
I am thankful for all for the hateful, mean spirited, despicable people I have met. They have attacked me insulted me and hurt me in some cases. They have also made me stronger and serve as a negative example and caution to me to treat others as I wish to be treated. I thank them for what they have done to help me.
I am thankful that I have truth and confidence and strength in my convictions and beliefs. Although it causes me trouble sometimes when I stand up for what I believe, it truly is a source of inner strength. Some people do not have this strength of convictions and they wander about without true real core values and beliefs. My parents and family gave me values that I truly cherish and protect.
I am thankful for my health and all of my senses and abilities. There are many who are not as fortunate. I hope that I shall never take these things for granted and I will think about these and give thanks often.
I am thankful I live in the United States of America.
Enough said.
I am thankful for all of the veterans who fought and died so I might have what I now have.
I am thankful for the thousands of firefighters who have given their lives in the line of duty. I hope that we do not let their memories to have died in vain. We must look at these terrible individual losses and make the hard decisions and change our behavior and beliefs to be sure that no more of us will die. Hiding, excusing, and jading the facts of what really happened protects them and endangers many. Any error they made in a compressed, frightening, horrible, time frame should not be looked at as their failing. It should also not be minimized if it can help save another life. They are no less heroic if they have made an error, if that lesson is truly learned by others.
I am thankful for my belief in a higher being who truly can help me in difficult times and gives me some comfort whenever I need it without question.
Think of these thoughts, actually write a card or a note to those people that have been mentioned in my list above. Let them know your are giving thanks.
Thank you for all who have listened and shared your thoughts with me.
Have a safe holiday to all.
Happy Thanksgiving!