What happens when you are at the top of your game, everyone is singing your praises, and you are reveling in the glory? Usually you wake up, but if you are living it, the feeling is sweet. But what’s next? Sure you invented a tool, a machine, asked the right question, or espoused some other new and improved way of doing something. Who the hell cares?

Do you think for a second that even Mick Mayers is going to change the way we read, write, or misunderstand what were doing in the fire service? That FASNY, Art, or Tiger will be espoused by the nation at large and offered the key to the city? I’m not even on the same continent with those guys never mind the “Web God” Dave that provided me with unfettered access to this soapbox. But for crying out loud keep going!

It is incumbent on you deep forward thinkers to continue to guide us, offer suggestion, poke and prod, and for the sake of all mankind (or at least the fire service in general) not to give up on us knuckle draggers coming over the horizon. Maybe one of the multitude will be touched, enthralled, or captivated enough to continue to be the standard bearer in a new generation. Just like my dad said “Jeszcze Raz” OK he was Polish, but “one more time” keep trying until someone gets it. The sad part is that you’ll never be able to measure your impact.

I reported a hot dog story, albeit incorrectly, and I made the list of hot bloggers. Yet in my previous blogs I dug down and tried to lead a discussion, or at least nurture a thought process. Like the rest of the Technorati I thought that there was a payoff, and sure I did get some rebuttal and comment but not enough. The payoff is in getting the thought or information out there. Tailor the message, use the medium, educate the masses, and turn “trickle down” into a waterfall.

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. (Winston Churchill)