HARRY R. CARTER, Ph.D., MIFireE

I want each of you all to know that I consider the impact of my writing upon the world each time I sit down at the computer in my cluttered, home writing center. Read that office if you wish. No matter what you call it, cluttered is just how it really is. Each time I put finger to key it is with an emotion of some sort running loose in my mind.

Sometimes I write in a frenzied state of anger or agitation, because a particular act, action, or activity causes me to get really steamed up. The result is a controlled tirade. At other times an idea works its way into my brain and I feel the urge to do a bit of research as to whether the idea has merit or not. And then I put finger to keyboard, and the result is words on your screen.

Then there are those times I write from a position of deep and abiding concern. I see, hear, or encounter something that disturbs me and I sit down at the keyboard to lay my emotions and concerns out for you, the reader, to see and ponder. Since your time is valuable, it is my hope that I am not wasting your time.

It is always with a sense of commitment and concern that I create my thoughts for you, my dear reader. You are the most important part of the equation. It is up to you to read and review the thoughts that I toss to you for your use. It is incumbent upon you to use them, modify them, or reject them. An unread word has no intrinsic value. I always look forward to hearing what you have to say.

Such was the case recently when I received a scathing e-mail accusing me and people like me of trashing everything that is a tradition in the fire service. How dare I challenge the line-of-duty deaths issue? How dare I keep talking about change? Why couldn’t I just leave things as they are? Why didn’t I just mind my own business and let this writer and his buddies just keep doing business as that apparently had for a long time?

And why did I keep pointing at the mistakes made by people that led to the line of duty deaths? Why didn’t I just mind my own business? Let well enough alone, I guess this person was saying. This individual told me to stop writing and stop screwing up his attempt to be a salty, young firefighter.

Now that is the sort of feedback that will challenge any person worthy of accepting the title of writer. This guy and I wrote back and forth over a number of days. This individual was kind enough to take the time to explain his views. I did the same. That interaction led me to wonder whether people in the fire service have lost sight of what a tradition really is, or should be. At lot of good traditions exist and a lot of bad traditions are kept alive for the wrong reasons. I wonder if we truly understand the value of traditions to us in the fire service.

My first visit after deciding to discuss this concept was to the pages of my well-worn dictionary. I wanted to be sure that what I was thinking had a basis in fact. The folks at Webster’s dictionary gave me the following thought. Tradition – The handling down of opinion, stories, etc., from father to son through oral communication, a statement so handed down. Just after the definition of tradition, the word Traditionalism appeared. It seemed to elevate the concept of tradition to an almost religious or political level. It was defined as adherence to or importance placed on tradition.

No mention was made as to whether a tradition had to be safe, or based upon some actual, identifiable fact. I point that out for you to ponder and remember. This type of definition speaks of opinions, stories, or similar concepts. It would seem that a tradition, by this definition, presumes that change is not a part of the equation in any use, discussion, or adherence to a tradition. Traditions can be both good and bad. Traditions can be positive, or negative. Like beauty, the impact of tradition is in the eye of the beholder.

Change is all around us, and I will not limit my discussion to the fire service. Here in New Jersey, we are going through a redistricting of the various sports conferences in every part of the state. The effort to more closely align the skills and capabilities of opponents in a wide variety of athletic contests has created a firestorm of protests. I will not weigh in either way, as my children have all been musicians rather than athletes. However as a life-long area resident I have always loved going to the annual Thanksgiving Day football game. It is on this basis that I must weigh in with my honest emotions.

For many decades, the football teams from Freehold Township and Freehold Borough clashed on Turkey Day. Turkey and the Duke Farrell Bowl game have been a great part of our local traditions. However, there will be a new look this year. Because the football wizards at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association had to meddle in what we do at the local level, there is no Thanksgiving Day game in my future.

The powers that govern sports in New Jersey have said that the rivalry was uneven because the student bodies were so different in size, meaning that Freehold Township had a larger student population from which to draw its team.

It sounds great, until you go back over the actual records and note that the split between the teams was almost even. And the size difference has been basically the same for the entire time that the traditional game has taken place.

But we in the world of football fans had no say in the change. Sound familiar? How many changes to the fire service have come from people that never go near fires? People come up with a great-sounding idea, and then have it made into a law, or a code, or a standard. Then we who are out where the "rubber meets the road," have to adapt to it.

One of the points that I want to stress again regarding tradition is that they do not have to be based in fact, or upon any tested and proven technical research methodology. Something just has to have been around for awhile. It then falls under the general heading of one of my favorite targets: "We’ve always done it that way." Let us look at some of the traditions that are no longer accepted in modern society.

In many ancient cultures, it was the tradition to sacrifice virgins to appease the gods in vogue in that culture. One virgin was set aside for the sun god, one for the moon god, and one for the fertility god. Tell me if you don’t think that this sounds like an idea that was dreamed up by a man. I am sure that no one conducted a survey of the women in those societies to see how they felt about sacrificing virgins for any reason. And that survey should not include married women, for by definition and practice, they would no longer be eligible for the sacrifice. There may still be places on earth where this tradition remains in effect. But I will wager a pension check that the practice has been outlawed in civilized countries.

Can you imagine the hubbub that came up the first time that a high priest in an ancient society was informed that he could no longer sacrifice a virgin to Oops, the ancient god of mistakes? He probably danced around in a tight circle screaming that; " … we’ve never done it that way." Or perhaps he chanted that, "… we’ve always done it that way." Tough, he was told, sacrifice a goat not a girl!

I guess that is the type of anger I engender when I suggest that we may not always want to go charging into a burning building that is on the verge of collapse. Or so my correspondent from the middle of America would lead me to believe. Let me now offer some examples of what I feel are good solid traditions for you folks to print out and hang on the walls of your fire stations. These are things that you should never forget about. And we would urge you to always do these sorts of things.

The first tradition I will offer is teamwork. You are the fire department; you are all on the same team. I know that there will be friction and arguments in your daily lives, because that is just the way of human nature. But when it comes to the heart of what you do, you must all work together to get the job done. How does it look to the people that are depending on you to save their lives if you start a fist fight in the front yard over who will take the nozzle and who will take the hydrant. And how about those fire people in a particular Middle Atlantic state who blocked the road to the emergency incident with their apparatus, because they didn’t like the people who were coming to their assistance on the mutual aid call. That is not a stirring example of teamwork. If something had gone wrong, I think that they would be hard put to defend that little act in court.

Duty is a good solid tradition that must be maintained if we are to continue our good works to the people who expect us to be there for them. When we accept membership in an organization, we each owe it to the people with whom we serve to be there when called. We need to make our commitments, as to time and service.

Loyalty to my chosen fire company demands certain things from each member. This creates a strong pull on me and on my life. Now that my daughter is a part of the equation, I want to be sure that I display the proper type of respect for the organization. Loyalty is a critical tradition that can only be passed down by example. You do this by playing your part every time you go through the doors of the fire station.

This is the way I have lived my life. This is the way that I played my part in the Newark Fire Department. And this is the way in which I have performed my duties in Adelphia. In each case there are people that did a heck of a lot more than I did. I looked to them as my example and I worked to pass on what they taught me to the generations that followed. When it comes to assessing my success or failure, only time will tell which values persevere.

But to the firefighter that accused me of working to ruin his career by trashing his traditions, I can only suggest that he revisit the reasons for his participation in the fire service. If your only reason for going to fires is to get your turnout gear dirty and batter your helmet so that you look cool, maybe there is something else you should be doing. Looking cool is no indication of skill, talent or ability. Of course if you do happen to come back from a tough fire without any dirt on your gear, and you weren’t the pump operator, well, that does say something about you.

However, if you are the type of person who truly seeks to help the person or persons who call upon you to help them in time of crisis, without any concern for your own safety, I urge you to be more cautious. There is nothing so useless as a lifesaver that wastes their life. It is up to the Lord to decide who gets called home on a given day. Do not rush him in his work by doing stupid, unsafe things.

It is up to each of you reading this commentary to do everything within your power to learn as much as you can, to work as hard as you possibly can, and live safely as long as you can to do the greatest possible good. Dedicated, caring service is a tradition that never goes out of style.

I hope I have given you a bit to think about when it comes to tradition.

The commentary in this column does not necessarily reflect those of Firehouse.Com, Firehouse Magazine, their employees or parent company Cygnus Business Media. Harry R. Carter, Ph.D., MIFireE, is an internationally known municipal fire protection consultant and contributing editor to Firehouse Magazine. He recently retired as a Battalion Commander with the Newark, New Jersey Fire Department. His commentary appears regularly on Firehouse.Com. For more commentary and information, visit Carter's web site at www.harrycarter.com Harry has published several books available for online ordering, including Firefighting Strategy and Tactics and Management in the Fire Service