Becoming a Volunteer Firefighter

I asked volunteers, Why?

I’ve been shameless quoting Richard Leider for about 25 years. Dick has written a number of great books including,The Power of Purpose.

As important to me, Dick has run trips to Kilimanjaro in Africa. One of my other mentors, Bill Payne, went with Dick on one of these adventures after he was diagnosed with Esophageal Cancer. When Bill came back, he said it was a transformative experience, that he had finally, after all these years “found his voice.”

Bill passed away a year or so later. But Dick had changed his life.

Dick had a project that is one of my favorites, because it was so simple and yet powerful. He interviewed individuals in the latter part of their lives and asked simply, if you could live your life over again, what would you do differently?

Dick interviewed hundreds of individuals over decades. And although he got all sorts of answers, the tended to fall into three broad categories.

The first was if I could do my life over again I would take more risks. Not the jumping out of airplanes risks, but the harder day to day ones; speaking my mind, asking that special person on a first date, asking for a raise, quitting a boring job to go out on my own. Those kinds of risks, the little ones that terrify us daily.

Next, people said they would take more time to reflect. They would think about why they are here. They would ask, “What is my life about?” Many said that their lives went by so fast that they never stopped and asked these large and fundamental questions.

Finally, individuals said if they could do their lives over again, they would spend less time worrying about themselves and more time in service to others. Serving others, they said, is when they felt the most satisfied. They felt like they were contributing.

This brings me to volunteer firefighters. I’ve always been intrigued by why individuals become volunteers.

In talking to firefighters that I know and have worked with for years, the three themes continually emerge:

Take more risks, understand why you’re here and be of service to others.

But I thought I’d let them speak for themselves. Over the last couple of months I grabbed them at stations, in gyms, in restaurants and ask, “Why did you become a Volunteer? What is it about this work that makes you willing to give up your time, get up in the middle of night, see tragedy and deal with other people’s problems? Why do this?

I put their responses on Video and on my Facebook page, Hersch Wilson, Author. They’re short. But interesting.

Link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hersch-Wilson-Author/597215100291724

If you enjoy them, if they help you think about why you’re here, please take a moment and “like” my Facebook site.

And never stop searching for your voice. Always be asking yourself, why am I here? What is my life about?