There Are No Kelly Days for Character

By: Travis Rask
from www.fireservicewarrior.com

A few years ago, I was returning home from a little league game with my father; we celebrated a victory with a Slurpee at the local 7-11. On our way back to the car, I noticed a feral $20 bill in the middle of the parking lot. I fantasized about how to spend the small fortune I encountered, only to have my champagne dreams shattered by my father’s imposition to return it to the cashier inside. Strangely, this was one of the few times during my cantankerous childhood that I decided to follow parental advice. It wasn’t because I already had the sadistic prize of a brain freeze within my grasp; it was something much more important: Deep down (and stubbornly), I knew relinquishing something I hadn’t earned was the right thing to do.
Character is revered in the fire service, yet has become one of its more quixotic elements. I surmise this is due to a variety of reasons; the first and foremost being it doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and is much more susceptible to our own daily choices and actions than we care to admit. What you think, and what you do on a daily basis matter, and the cumulative value of your performance, reputation, and most importantly your soul, depends greatly on it. Unfortunately, due to the pernicious power of gradualism many well-intentioned people don’t realize this critical fact until they wake up to realize they’ve become what seemed impossible to many of us. We know what the aforementioned end result is when they lumber into the station for their twice-weekly tour of imposed liability and cancerous behavior on their so-called brothers and sisters.

When my father suggested I return the money, he didn’t do it on a whim. His conviction was built upon a worldview that was nurtured and developed over the course of a lifetime. Somewhere along the line, he decided he owned his own thoughts, attitude, and actions. While he was not beyond reproach and certainly not a perfect human being (let’s just say mom kept him out of the kitchen), he realized how you think and behave matters on a daily basis. Some days can be worse than others, but when you choose to work hard, abide by the golden rule, constantly seek to better yourself, and maintain a positive attitude, chances are you will end up on the right side of the fence.
I’ve worked in customer service my entire life. A few months ago I stumbled upon a manager meeting at the restaurant where I work occasionally. The managers were having a distressed discussion about how to deal with employees who have attitude and performance issues. Employees who made less money generally had attitude issues that metastasized into a negative feedback loop, and over time their performance became an ingrained character issue. As I clocked out for the day, I realized a universal point of importance: I own my attitude. The better a steward I am of it, the greater my performance, results, and most importantly, character will be. I could get pissy at all the flak I take from unappreciative customers or incompetent co-workers…or I could seek to meet people’s needs and exceed their expectations by sheer value of owning nothing more than how I think and behave.
How we own our own behavior and character is precisely the same in the fire service. Our call load, our politics, and our co-workers are irrelevant if we’re incapable of keeping our own house clean first. That is the foundation of individual responsibility and personal excellence; without it there can be no cohesive unit, battalion, or department. Sure, we can be excellent independent of others, but the sooner we collectively agree that character (and its corollary, merit) matter for everyone regardless of what contracts say, the better we will be as a unique society that values honor above all else.

Which path will you choose?

I deliberated on writing this article for several months; I initially made a verbal commitment to Chris and Brian to write on this topic after dealing with the unscrupulous behavior of a well known fire service figure. I’ve been held hostage by my own attitude before, and have made my share of mistakes and continue to experience personal failures that I have incrementally and persistently worked on overcoming. Would I be walking the talk? In retrospect, I was foolishly attempting to walk on water, and was incorrectly interpreting the meaning of the planned title of this article.
There are no Kelly Days for your character, and it is never retired. Remember this in everything you do, do your best to abide by it in your attitude and actions…and chances are you will end up being the person you envisioned when you enthusiastically started this great profession, and not the one you despised.