One of my favorite jokes of all time:
A fire breaks out in a large city. It's a huge warehouse area, and it quickly begins to spread and threaten the entire warehouse district. Fire companies from all the surrounding areas are called in, until they hit the bottom of the list: a small volunteer fire dept at the outskirts of the city, under-manned, under-equipped, with aging trucks. It takes them forever to get there.
Meanwhile, the fire is getting out of control, despite all the fire companies that are on site. The decision is made to pull back, rope off the area, and let the entire district burn down.
Just as the last engine pulls back, though, here comes the volunteers with the old truck. Everybody sees they are not going to stop. In fact, they plow right through the line, and go full blast right into the heart of the fire!
Everyone watches in amazement as six men jump off the truck and start fighting the fire with everything they've got. Their attack on the fire is so successful, they start getting it under control!
Everybody sees this and they all go back in, and help put the fire out. Finally, hours later, the fire is out, 90% of the warehouse district is saved!
Reporters rush the old captain of the volunteer fire dept and one of them says, "The mayor says he's going to give you guys a million-dollar reward for putting out the fire. What are you guys going to do with all that money?"
The old captain thinks for a moment, then says, "Well, the FIRST thing we're gonna do is, we're gonna fix the brakes on that damned truck!"
Moral:
Sometimes you don't know what you can do until you're in the flames and you have no choice but to succeed or die.
And: If you're ever in that spot, give it everything you've got; you might be surprised how it turns out.
And: You never know who you will inspire by your actions.
A fire breaks out in a large city. It's a huge warehouse area, and it quickly begins to spread and threaten the entire warehouse district. Fire companies from all the surrounding areas are called in, until they hit the bottom of the list: a small volunteer fire dept at the outskirts of the city, under-manned, under-equipped, with aging trucks. It takes them forever to get there.
Meanwhile, the fire is getting out of control, despite all the fire companies that are on site. The decision is made to pull back, rope off the area, and let the entire district burn down.
Just as the last engine pulls back, though, here comes the volunteers with the old truck. Everybody sees they are not going to stop. In fact, they plow right through the line, and go full blast right into the heart of the fire!
Everyone watches in amazement as six men jump off the truck and start fighting the fire with everything they've got. Their attack on the fire is so successful, they start getting it under control!
Everybody sees this and they all go back in, and help put the fire out. Finally, hours later, the fire is out, 90% of the warehouse district is saved!
Reporters rush the old captain of the volunteer fire dept and one of them says, "The mayor says he's going to give you guys a million-dollar reward for putting out the fire. What are you guys going to do with all that money?"
The old captain thinks for a moment, then says, "Well, the FIRST thing we're gonna do is, we're gonna fix the brakes on that damned truck!"
Moral:
Sometimes you don't know what you can do until you're in the flames and you have no choice but to succeed or die.
And: If you're ever in that spot, give it everything you've got; you might be surprised how it turns out.
And: You never know who you will inspire by your actions.
