Doing What’s Right
“An American Legend”
There comes a time in most professional’s career when they look around and they are not where they thought they would be, they are not wearing the brass they thought they would be wearing and they are not doing what they had at one time thought they would be doing. For a myriad of reasons people end up where they end up, some do it consciously others subconsciously. Regardless of the reasons we are where we are, we should all look not necessarily at where we are or what we are wearing but rather at what we have accomplished, whom we have helped, what good we have caused, but most importantly, if we have done what is right.
I knew I wanted to write about leadership or motivation in the fire service but was unsure as to the reception it would get or the audience it would appeal to. I knew I had to say things that in many departments are like the 300-pound gorilla no one chooses to notice. Many leaders regardless of their rank or lack thereof have found themselves standing up for what is right knowing that there will be a personal cost.
Many of these individuals find themselves viewed as an instigator or as not being a team player for doing nothing more than what is right. I have seen others before great men, women, and me who had done the same thing and who had ended up in the same place. What is it that we were doing wrong? Why was doing what was right so difficult, so costly?
While contemplating this in the vast wilderness of Southern Utah amidst the grand backdrop of fabulous red towering arches and desolation, I met a wise old man name Roger Crowley. Roger was a retired actor and now collector of John Wayne movie memorabilia. We started to chat and before long our mutual admiration for John Wayne was taking up most of the conversation. It was during this conversation that what I had been saying for the last several years,“I watched too much John Wayne as a kid”; struck me as to the reason I was where I was. When I told this older yet striking gentleman this, he smiled and said “Yea, but when you do what the Duke would have done, don’t it just make you glow”.
We talked about a great quote or saying that would encompass the ideals of John Wayne which by the way are basically the ideals and morals of our culture but found it hard to settle on a single one. We both knew that John Wayne wanted to be remembered in these simple words “Feo, Fuerte j formal” which translated means “He was ugly, was strong and had Dignity”. But what we were looking for was something more universal, something one could hold in their hand as a torch based the ideals of the man simply referred to as “The American Legend”. What else could there be that would inspire leaders in the fire service of today to do what is right?
After a few million stars came out and more than a few eyebrows were raised by passerbies, we decided that each of us should be able to have our own favorite. My personal favorite comes from John Bernard Books in the movie The Shootist: “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people and I expect the same from them.” Roger’s favorite quote is not from a movie but is rather a favorite saying of John Wayne’s, one he liked so much it is on his headstone. “Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday”.
With that we diverged from John Wayne to many a great villain who without exception, regardless of what epic adventure they were in, believed that the end justified the means. All of these great villains were essentially doing the same thing; they were trying to get somewhere or something at the expense of others. It took a character such as John Wayne to right these wrongs either for himself, as in Chism or as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit, or for his family as in movies such as Big Jake or Cahill U.S. Marshall or for the organization he was representing such as United States of America in the Green Beret’s or In Harms Way.
All this being said, the fallacy comes when we believe that everything will always work out the best for us if we just do what is right. Like the vast majority of the fire service regardless of your hero’s, many of you have sacrificed your own career and even livelihood because you choose to do what was right.
You have chosen to stick up for the truth and to have integrity regardless of the cost to you. You have done what is right knowingly very well the cost to you and your career. You have selected not he path of promotion but the path of courage, or as John Wayne would say regarding courage; “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway”. You have chosen to fight battles for values knowing very well that as Capt. Rockwell Torrey (In Harm’s Way): John Wayne would say; “All battles are fought by scared men who’d rather be some place else.”
Often times, it seems as though we strive to put more and shinier things in our retirement shadow box rather than in the moral bank of ethical behavior. We look upon these accomplished colleagues as successful when what we should look at is how they accomplished it and at what was the cost to others. Sadly we even consider having more and being more as successful when in reality that may not be the case.
We often times think that the end will justify the means, which is a position that is always wrong. Doing what is right is often times what is most difficult, that being said it is still what is right. Right is right and doing what is right with courage and dignity may not ever pay off for you in your career but as John Wayne was famous for saying “”I have tried to live my life so that my family would love me and my friends respect me. The others can do whatever the hell they please.”
We all know of people who have lied, cheated, disrespected and possibly worse than all of these, people who have stood by when others have done these things without stepping in and doing what was right. This article could have easily focused on the villains of the fire service and their actions. Instead I intended this article to be praise for those of you who have chosen to do what is right. This may be the only accolades you ever get for doing so, however it is you and your type that keeps the great men and women of our fire service providing other humans undying service with dignity and compassion. It is you that are the true American Legends.
For those of you who have sacrificed yourself, I and the majority of the fire service applauds you. Promote yourself today to the position of the keeper of what is right. It is one of the most important and difficult positions you will ever hold. The only thing that you may get to show for it is our gratitude and the ability to always truthfully look in the mirror and say “Good Job, You did what was right”. You will sleep every night knowing that you have made a stand for what gives our chosen professional steeped in tradition the respect within our communities; You have done what is right.
It is you who have chosen to priorities your life appropriately focused on your family, your development, your ability to provide each and every human you meet with the best possible service while treating them with respect and dignity. It is you who understands the personal cost of doing what is right, who regardless of the personal cost, will carry on the tradition of doing what is right. In some sense you may have all followed the advice Marion Morison’s father gave him while he was growing up: first is to always keep my word and, second, to never insult anybody unintentionally. If I insult you, you can be sure I intend to. And, third, he told me not to go around looking for trouble.
I don’t have to tell any of you that you may at times not be where you want to be, or you may not be being treated as you think you should, yet when all else fails and when the curtain finally closes on your career and life, it is not what is in your retirement shadow box, it is in the hearts and souls of those you have set an example for. What we give is much more valuable that what we take away. To you regardless of your rank or lack thereof, thank you for doing what is right, or as John Wayne would say; “A man’s got to have a code, a creed to live by, no matter his job”.
Keep up the battle; it may seem difficult at times. It will seem scary and at times you will think you are the only one doing what is right. But be assured it is not that difficult. It is actually quite easy. Regardless of the situation, do what is right.
As John Wayne would say: “When in doubt tell the truth”.
About the Author
Kriss Garcia
Kriss is a Battalion Chief for Salt Lake City Fire Department where he has worked in the fire service for 26 years. Kriss is an instructor for the National Fire Academy as well as Utah Fire and Rescue Academy. Kriss is a voting member of the Air Movement Control Association standard review committee. Kriss is a Utah licensed General Engineer. Kriss is a member of NFPA 1021 Technical Committee. Kriss has an Associate Degree in Pre-hospital care as well as bachelor degrees in Public Administration and Education. Kriss has published several articles in Fire Engineering and Chief magazine as well as a best seller book for PenWell.
John Wayne