NEAFC 32nd Annual Conference.pdf - New England Association of ...

NEW E2qGLA~XlD ASSOCIATION oF FIr, E CHIEFS
Now, of course, friendliness is something that can also get you into trouble.
I remember a visiting fireman who came to Providence and stayed in the hotel,
and he was all alone; he took out the Gideon Bible that was in the hotel room,.
and he opened it up, and inside the cover on a typewritten sheet of paper, it said:
"If you are worried, read Romans: 3 through 11. And if you are anxious,
read 9 through 17. If you are lonesome, read Psalms. 11 through 34."
XV/ell, he was lonesome, so he read Psalms. 11 through 34. At the end
of 34, some one had written in:
*~If you’re still lonesome, call Gaspee 1-2348." (Laughter.)
Now, for ~Imagination" there will always be times that will arise calling
upon your imagination. And that, I think, is another characteristic of these
men who fight fires. There is no formula that has. ever been devised for you
men to follow to the letter, so that it does., require imagination, skill~ skill and
training to see to it that the results achieved produce a sense of happiness, for
the people they are-serving.
Now, imagination, too, while it is a wonderful thing, can also get you into
trouble. As Attorney-General of Rhode Island, I deal with the Police Chiefs
of the cities and towns., and the State Police, the Superintendent of which is
here, Colonel John Sheehan, and his lovely lady; but, I am remembering the
incident where a careless driver jammed into a car in front of him who crowded
it off the highway and created a serious accident for himself and the car which
he struck. He had imagination; he got out of his car, rushed over to the car
he had struck, opened the door and said:
"How do you feel, driver?"
"Well, all right, I guess; I don’t think anything is wrong."
"No; it looks all right. But, here, I have a flask of brandy; take a
good, swig of this because it will make you feel better."
So he took a good swig from the flask of brandy, and he said: "Gee, that
does make me feel good."
" "Here, take another good one; it will make you feel even better."
So he took another one, and he said to the fellow that struck him:
"How about you? Have some; it’s., great."
"Not until the police arrive!" (Laughter.)
Recklessness is understood to be something that is not desirable, as a characteristic,
but, properly defined, it is a giving of one’s self, without thought
of person, loss or injury, after having carefully weighed all of the facts involved.
If that is true and if we can accept this as. a definition, then all of the firemen
in this nation may be termed as r~ckless, because certainly they give of their
time, always understanding that the next time the bell rings, it might mean
permanent injury or even death for them, and they do it without a second’s
hesitation.
There is the story of the fellow who belonged to the Elks.; he was. reckless,
too. The Elks had a boxing competition and one of his friends said:
"Look, you~ must be almost a couple of hundred pounds;; you’re
strong, and you ought to be a good boxer. Why don’t you get into it?"
Recklessly, he did. He told his wife about it, and she wasn’t very happy
about it. But he said: ¯ - " .
"Don’t worry about it."
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