Writing prompts can help you get a story going.

 Observing life situations has helped in my writing and ideas. That doesn’t indicate that if I meet your acquaintance you’ll end up in my writing. Actually, I write about events and situations. I don’t put names unless my article is encouraging and I have permission.

Writing prompts can often help us to create a story. My following story is not a writing prompt but a short story. Perhaps it will help you create a story in your own life. Enjoy my short story. No judgement here, just something to think about when dealing with human natures and behaviors.

Aunt Mary and uncle Joe visit for your birthday. Aunt Mary has always been good to you and she always has a compliment and delicious cookies for you when she visits. You delight in aunt Mary’s visits. 

It is present opening time. You're given a box from aunt Mary and uncle Joe. You unwrap the package, pull off the box, pull those thin papers apart, and unveil a sweater. Aunt Marys face is beaming with joy and pride as you take a good look at this brand new sweater. You fake a pleasing surprised smile because in your mind you are thinking to yourself, “This is the ugliest sweater I have ever laid my eyes on!” You continue in thought to yourself, “I wouldn’t be caught dead in this ugly thing!”

 

🤔Do you lie or tell the truth?

If your aunt Mary is healthy in mind and emotions, perhaps you can let her know how you really feel about this sweater, and she’ll be thankful for your honesty and ask you to give her a list of what you like as far as apparel and decor.

However, if your aunt Mary is not healthy in mind and emotions, and you let her know this is the ugliest sweater You have ever seen, prepare for the lashing of words from aunt Mary and uncle Joe. Your calm warm loving birthday party is about to turn into National Lampoons Vacation meets One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest!

This message is something to thing about. We are human beings, we have faults. We are not perfect. We do the best we are able to do and hope for results that are beneficial and optimistic. No condemnation  or moral lectures here. I write this as something to think about to one’s self as I often do.

Will your writing offend someone or please them? It depends on what you are writing and what state that person’s mind and emotions are in. If you write with the intention of entertaining and sharing your creativity with your audience without slander, you should be ok. But you don’t know who your audience is, personally that is. You may run the risk of offending someone you know who thinks you are talking about them in your story. If that becomes your situation, you cannot control the emotional and mental state of mind of people.

 If someone is offended by your writing, there may be nothing you can say to convince otherwise. You may offer an apology to that person to be kind to a fellow human being, that’s your call. I don’t know what the situation is. I do want you to always keep this in mind about your writing hobby-pursuit, let there be no regrets in your life about writing your thoughts. Writing has helped me to be mentally and emotional well, I think before I write and I try my best to encourage as well as entertain. I have not written one sentence in my writing that I have regretted. I would greatly regret not writing at all.

Roger J Lown Jr

Writer Author

Here is the direct link to purchase my book Change Your Life Through WRITING https://outskirtspress.com/changeyourlifethroughwriting

Your donation helps me to produce more learning and educational writing classes. Hers the link to my PayPal account https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=XKYJXZHR7LDQ4

Leadership begins with taking out the garbage.

 

#Leadership #FireDept #Jobs

Leading by Experience and Example.

Authors take on effective leadership.

 #Leadership 

 

​ The fire chiefs and line officers that lead our volunteer fire dept received our respect and admiration. Those men earned their rank and title by starting at the bottom and rising to the top. It is the integrity of the leaders in the workplace that I question especially those who have no experience other than barking orders and some whom micro-manage. In the volunteer fire service, we trusted our leadersand fire officers because of their examples they lived by, thus earning our respect. Bosses are often concerned about time and money management, and almost to the point of pushing and stressing their employees to the brink of physical and/or mental exhaustion.  

  ​The fire officers that lead our company wouldn’t think of sending us into a fire they never had experienced hands-on themselves. But it is my understanding that there are more often than not, inexperienced bosses out there, who would send their employees to complete a task that they wouldn’t do nor had never performed.    

 ​ Previously, I wrote a story about my confined space challenge and how I conquered my fear of being in confined spaces. My instructor didn’t just throw me into the hurdle of crawling through the drainpipe during training. While instructing me, I informed him that I did have a fear of claustrophobia; I was concerned about being able to breath in such a tight space. First, he gave me assurance by encouraging me on how far I have excelled in the course, and how I possess great ability to do this. Then he reassured me that I would be on breathing air from my air pack, which gave me sense of security and peace of mind that I would be fine.

 ​With my gear on which consisted of:  a flame retardant jacket and pair of bunker pants, steel-toed service work boots, gloved hands, and an air mask, which covered my face, preventing me from seeing any light or images as I crawled blindly to the opening of what seemed like a tunnel. Then my instructor asked me what I felt, and I described a tunnel opening. He said that was correct, and that was my only way out. I loosened my straps and slid my pack over my head, while keep my breathing air mask on, and then I crawled head first into the opening. The space was tight, with just enough room to stretch my shoulders, and inch my way through pushing my pack ahead of me. 

I focused on controlling my breathing, reassured by the fresh cool air stream that my pack provided on my demand. If I breathe in a panic I use more air, so one of the hands on lessons was about controlled breathing. Our volunteer fire service consistently emphasized our personnel safety comes first. However, in my observation most work places especially in the building and highway construction field, the emphasis is placed usually on time and keeping a tight budget. How far can an employee be pushed to get more bang’ for the companies’ or departments’ buck?

In the volunteer fire department, we were encouraged to push beyond our personal limits without risking our personal safety. Our fire officers did not push time and money issues, rather they focused on effective training and personal safety. I mostly appreciated the way in which the volunteer fire company operated, by giving each of the members the right to elect those whom they desired to run for an elected fire officer position.  A person running for a position of fire line officer would have to be skillfully trained and experienced, in order to gain the trust of fellow members, both on the scene and in a fire-rescue situation. Unlike the Fire Department, in most workplaces, generally an unqualified individual may have obtained a position in management, merely by who they knew without having experienced any of the work they instructed their employees to perform.                     

An individual should never be ordered to enter a confined space, whether it is an urgent situation, or work-related job without properly fitted and tested breathing air equipment. If it is a rescue situation, what sense is it if you enter the space, and succumb to poor air quality or a gas leak? I’d caution gray areas in a circumstance where a manager or boss may place you in a hard spot, by demanding that you complete a task simply because it’s your job-without further explanation. Due to the fact that a manager may not have any managerial experience, training, nor hazard prevention-they could be risking an employees’ life.

On a previous job, when I was placed in charge of flood and drain control, I was asked by a person in upper management if I would enter a drainpipe in order to unclog it. In return I replied, “If and… only if,’ I were issued proper breathing air apparatus.” A experienced, responsible, and safety minded manager-boss places an employees safety over personal ego and department/company budget! 

A leader, who is responsible and reasonable, will not only earn the trust of his or her employees, but also may depend on them as well to carry out assigned duties and tasks performed with excellence. This is why I use the fire line officers of the volunteer fire department as an example, because in my opinion they are the best definition of true leadership. The officers who commanded my company were not hard-hearted iron-fisted leaders, but rather they led firmly and reasonably with understanding.      

 ​But a manager, who in the workplace barks out orders lacking the experience of carrying out those same commands, does not make an effective or respected leader.  They tend to be more inclined to lead employees one way, which is their own way, and they are close-minded to the suggestions of their employees, due to their fragile egos. 

I have learned how to lead people with a firm voice, while being reasonable and earning respect from others under my command, from my fire chiefs and fire line officers fine-tuned training expertise. I have also learned that a boss who is hard-hearted and unreasonable, who pressures and intimidates employees using micro-management tactics, does not make a trusted leader! 

When a boss gains mutual trust and respect of his or her employees, it becomes a win-win situation! Workers always admire and respect an effective leader who listens and is objective, when employees offer their suggestions. A manager, who honors the value of an employees input, makes a winning team