#Risk

There was a time in our history when risk was not vilified. A time when it was an accepted and often revered part of any major endeavors that were undertaken by our country and or its citizens.

Somehow, however, time has evolved the way some look at risk.

Unfortunately, some of the people with that changing viewpoint now exist within our own ranks. Even though for us as firemen, risk is still at the very heart of every task we carry out.

Our job, by its very definition, and by the public's expectations, requires us to walk the tightrope of danger and fate.

It requires us to look the risks in the face, and act in spite of them. To not only accept the fact that they exist, but revel in them a bit, and use them as fuel to drive us further in our desire to succeed, and in the development of the skill sets necessary to do so.

I do not advocate that we engage risk in a frivolous way, or not pay it the respect that it is due, but I also feel we should not cower in its presence either.

When the United States Government and NASA set their eyes on space travel, and eventually a mission to land on the moon, risk surely assumed a major role in the planning, and eventual implementation of those plans.

A culture of risk aversion would have stopped this mission before the first ideas were put on paper. They would have looked at the goals of it and said, "We haven’t done this before, it’s dangerous and we could lose. We could lose money, we could lose our position of leadership in the world, and we could lose lives." Unfortunately, that is likely the order in which they would have looked at it as well.

But that was not the attitude our country, our government, NASA, its astronauts nor staff assumed. Rather, it was an attitude of drive and determination, to not only accomplish, but to be the first that prevailed and dominated this mission.

President Kennedy led the charge into space by saying. "Why go to the moon, why climb the highest mountain? We go to the moon not because it is easy, but because it is hard!"

Our country embraced those words and was inspired by the hope they created within each of us. A common goal and rationale for us to believe in, and work toward.

He laid out the need for the mission, the basic philosophy behind it, and the potential rewards to be realized. He did this in a way that created value in it and nationwide support for it.

People understood what we were doing, and why we were doing it so they got behind it. They supported it, and they helped to drive the mission forward.

The success of the Apollo program was a success for each and every American.

Neil Armstrong said, "There can be no great accomplishment without risk."

Because he was an engineer, he knew that this mission was the very definition of risk. Yet, his belief in the fact that they could overcome the obstacles in front of them outweighed the parts of his brain that were telling him to back away from risk.

He didn't take on this mission with reckless abandon. He did it because he cared, because he was educated, because he spent untold hours obsessing over the mission and its success.

He did it because he tried, failed, and tried again. He did it because he drilled over and over on the small details of the mission that would allow for the overall accomplishment
of the larger objectives. He did it because he believed in this mission and had the drive and determination to see it through.

The willingness to try, and the associated willingness to fail and learn from that failure, in spite of the risk, propelled Neil and the program to victory.

Their drive to move this mission forward, in spite of the risk, not only created its success, it inspired our nation, the world for that matter, to embrace risk and lean forward in all we do.

Our nation has lead the world in all levels of progression because we were never afraid of taking the risk needed to get the job done.

We've embraced risk, we've reveled in it, and we've used it as fuel to catapult us to the forefront time and time again.

In the fire service we can be no different. We must look the risk in the face. We must educate ourselves to its nuances, and we must understand its infestations.

Then we must overcome it.

We must create common sense policy and procedure that allows us to operate around risk, as well as develop and hone the basic skill sets needed to manage and control it. We must be ready to address risk at a moment's notice, and do our work in it, around it, and in spite of it.

The one thing we must never do, is avoid it.

Risk is the world in which we operate. It is the reason for our very existence. To avoid it, is to not meet our obligations. Obligations we swore to meet head on and overcome.

If not for our willingness to dance with risk, lives would not be saved, property salvaged, nor potentially the light of tomorrow seen.

No matter how safe our gear becomes, no matter how much water we flow, no matter how reflective our vests might be, risk will be on our shoulders at every moment of every day.

No matter how hard some will try, denial and avoidance will not make us safer, it will not bring us home, it will not prevent tragedy.

Studying our challenges, learning to overcome them, drilling on our skills, taking care of our bodies and minds, and of each other, using our brains to create realistic policies, and working as a cohesive team, is what will allow us to prevail.

Leaning forward will allow us to prevail.

Living up to our obligations will allow us to prevail.

Doing our jobs will allow us to prevail.

There is no guarantee for success, however. Our world is dangerous, and sometimes in spite of our best efforts, in spite of our preparation, and in spite of our skill and intention, we will lose. And we will lose hard.

However, when we fail, when we feel the pain of loss, when we get owned by the risk, we can not allow its gravity to pull us in, or its darkness to overcome us.

We must continue to lean forward. We must understand that we are depended upon to get back up and continue our fight. We must understand that our very existence inspires those around
us to lean forward, and continue in their own battles.

Just as the 'First Man' inspired a world, we must inspire each other, the child down the street, or anyone that looks up to us, to move forward, to pick themselves up, and most importantly, to just try.

Get out there, face the risk and own it, then do something great.

Be smart, be as safe as you can and DO YOUR JOB.

BB