"I'm the Fireman, Fire, F-Fireman (Oh!)
I got that fire, I'm hollering (Oh!)
I got that fire, come and try me, and (Oh!)
You can spark it up and I'mma put you out (I-I got 'em)"
In conversation with Castel about two weeks back, I made a statement that prompted a thought that birthed a pretty good metaphor. (I’m not even sure if my opening sentence is grammatically correct.) The statement was: “And as much as its intentions aren’t “bad”, they certainly aren’t good.”
Now what “it” is referring to is neither here nor there, so mind your business. But “it” does seem to have relatively good intentions that turn out to be not so good after you actually examine it.
Dorothy (James) also graduated last week (this is only a partial detour). After the graduation, I felt the need to tell her this newly founded metaphor, so I pulled her aside and slapped her with some knowledge. Of course, not physically, but a slap is a slap is a slap [lol].
More back story: And I know this probably feels sporadic, but stick with your boy.
I did a course at the fire station a few months back via K1 Britannia’s DIRECT. I’m your friendly neighbourhood Fire Warden – first line of defence if a fire breaks out at a workplace. At the course, we learned about types of fires, extinguishers and different tips and tricks to outing a “small” fire. Okay, now here is where I applied my fireman-knowledge to slap Dorothy.
There are different types of fire extinguishers – Dry, Wet and Gas – which consist of powders, CO2, foam and water. And you can pretty much use any one to put out a fire, with some technical exceptions. For example, if you’re dealing with an electrical fire, you would not want to use water to extinguish it – just think Pokémon and you’ll get why that’s a bad idea.
Let’s say a fire breaks out in the kitchen of a restaurant, it’s much more efficient to use the CO2 extinguisher, which removes the oxygen from the room, versus a foam-type extinguisher.
In the scenario with the electrical fire, using a water-type extinguisher may very well make the fire worse. And in the kitchen scenario, the foam extinguisher messes up the food and the workspace – proving to be effective, but inefficient. It is a much better option to use an extinguisher that won’t affect the food or workspace.
In both cases, grabbing a fire extinguisher to put the fire out would be doing the “right” thing in answer to the situations, which seem pretty straightforward. However, even when the intentions are clearly good, one must also take into account the specifics of each scenario.
This translates so well to life because sometimes we tend to make hasty decisions when the answer seems so straightforward, especially when we’re under a bit of pressure. And while our hearts may be in the right place, we should examine our decisions just a bit closer to ensure that we are being both effective and efficient, and that we aren’t doing more harm than good in a situation that seems clear cut.
Sometimes the same thing that safeguards you can ultimately make you feel boxed in.
I think we pulled this sporadic thingy together pretty well, if I do say so myself [lol].
*Cues Fireman by Lil Wayne*
