Not my brush fire

I remember when I moved into a position of responsibility (some would say "of leadership") within the community, I was warned that I would find myself running around putting out brush fires and never getting to the important stuff.

I was watching a friend deal with that sort of brush fire recently and it occurred to me that, while someone needs to take care of brush fires, it is not up to me to put out all the brush fires in the world, or in the United States, or in Wisconsin, or in Sauk County or even in the Town of Delton. If I were to expend all my focus and energy handling all those brush fires, I might not be aware of the fire starting where I live and for which I have a responsibility.

So I have modified the "Not my circus, not my monkeys" slogan to my own version: Not my brush fire!

Click on the image to enlarge

And as a forester friend of mine explained, some brush fires need to be allowed to burn themselves out. If you put out every fire that springs up, you may eventually discover that you have done more harm than good.

BTW, I created that image.