The WSJ featured an article this week about the fire at Notre Dame.  It was a fascinating look at the behind the scenes decision-making of fire fighters and others as they battled the blaze. To the lay person’s eyes, it may have appeared as if the fire was not being addressed aggressively enough, but in actuality, teams of people including architects and art experts, all with deep knowledge of the structure and its contents, were working feverishly to save not only the building from total collapse but priceless treasures as well.

• Water cannons were not used at full capacity so as to spare the stained glass windows.
• The roof was actually allowed to burn so firefighters could instead focus on the belfries which provide support for the entire structure.
• Teams were sent in to rescue artifacts as the fire raged.

So there was a lot going on that was not visible to the horrified public. When I read about all of this, I of course couldn’t help but apply what I had learned to life. There are times when facing a problem that I just want to drop a “water bomb” on the entire situation and instantly put out the flames. Of course the relational, collateral damage would be huge..in other words I’d win the battle but lose the war.

I need to be more like a fire fighter in those conflict situations, strategically approaching the problem with the ultimate goal of resolving the immediate crisis – but not causing even further, irreparable harm in the process.

PS- I was going to use a photo of Notre Dame, but when I started scrolling for pics, there were simply too many ‘hot’ fire fighters to ignore..👨🏻‍🚒

YOU’RE WELCOME!- 😉