Two weeks ago I went to the drill at the Clackamas training center by 130th and 112th. It was a cool breezy evening. Night fell as firefighters practiced their skills.
The exercise was to ventilate a burning building by cutting openings on the roof. Trying to keep their balance on the sloped surface, one by one the firefighters took turn at the chain saw. The biggest problem was the sawdust which kept causing them to slip. The solution was to have one, two, even sometimes three other firefighters behind for safety. I found this exercise quite interesting. The main job was to cut an opening with a chainsaw on a sloped surface. It looked dangerous. Slipping and falling while operating a chainsaw could have devastating results. I saw firefighters losing balance several times. Each time they were rescued by the crewmates behind them. In order to do this cutting, the “cutter” had to completely trust his crewmates. It is this trust that allowed him to let go of trying to keep balance and do his job. It made me think about many things in life. Sometimes we try to do things on our own and we find ourselves slipping on a dangerous slope resulting in life changing errors of judgement causing injuries, hurt, and pain which could have been avoided had we engaged the help and support of others. Working with, though, or even under the covering of others, be it technical, legal, spiritual, or emotional, has its benefits. It helps us not have to carry the whole load by ourselves. With the cover, vetting, and support of those around us, we have the assurance that someone ‘has our back’, and we can do our job more effectively.
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