Turkey and Poison.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.

Some of you are working. It is good that you are. More than a million people are counting on you. I am counting on you too.

You are an amazing group. You keep getting smarter. You keep getting better. You get coming together as teams to do things you couldn’t have done as individuals. If that isn’t nice I don’t know what is.

James Mattis says, “’The most important six inches on the battlefield is between your ears.” I suspect the same thing applies on the emergency scene and in the fire station too. You have to be a thinker. I have some evidence that you guys are just that-thinkers.

It is so easy to get cynical some days, really easy actually. And I get how cynicism feels like the right thing. Maybe it is ok for a few seconds. Maybe you let cynicism wash over you. I don’t know maybe that is helpful for some.

I would caution you though to be cynical in extreme moderation. Only for a few moments here and there. Not for often-Never for long. And try not to share it. As nice as it can be to be cynical it is nicer to be cynical in pairs or even in teams. Resist that urge with all your might.

Cynicism is a cumulative poison. “If one drinks much from a bottle marked ‘Poison,’ it is certain to disagree with one, sooner or later.” -Alice said that just before she headed down to Wonderland. She was right. They were all mad there.

There is so much we don’t know. But we do know that attitude is so darn important.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.

I have to pause and give thanks. Take a day to detox from cynicism.

I am thankful for the chance to be able to visit with you all via this blog, thankful for being able to share what I think and the lessons that I have learned with a fine assortment of men and women dedicated to a common pursuit.

I am thankful on behalf of the more than one million people who will be able to go through their day tomorrow without once considering whether you are there or not. You are so trustworthy that no one even considers whether you are there or not. It is just assumed.

I am thankful for a bunch of other stuff too. Stuff that has nothing to do with fires. Maybe we can talk about those things another time.

Sometimes-you all know this feeling-sometimes things get hard and you get tired and all you really want is a hot shower, a cup of tea, and a warm bed. Instead you get a cold, wet, windy night where you are pulling ceilings and all you want to is quit. For the team up at HQ its not drywall hook, instead its the 1,019 things that are truly vital, time critical and instead of taking a nap in frustration you double down and force your way to the least worst solution to an intractable problem with no good solutions that can’t wait but will have to because…just because…

When you get this feeling, whether you are racking hose or trying to get someone’s vision plan reinstated before a long holiday weekend the reason you don’t quit is because you cannot bear to let the team down. You keep going because you know you have to….people don’t care how tired or short staffed you are…they assume that you will be there-bright as a brain surgeon-on time every time.

Please take a deep breath or two in the morning and be thankful that you get to be a part of something bigger than yourself, something that over a million people take for granted. Remind your teams of their value. And if you even smell a hint cynicism at the lineup table-squash it early.

Turkey and poison don’t go well together.