Journey to Nuance - Fire Starter

From The Atlantic Blog -

The Key to Design Insights: See the World Differently by Luke Williams (click to view)

"There's a wonderful New Yorker article titled "The Eureka Hunt" (PDF). It's the story of a firefighter named Wagner Dodge who survived an out-of-control fire in the Mann Gulch in Montana in 1949. Thirteen other smoke jumpers died in the fire, but Dodge was saved by a brilliant insight. Fleeing for his life, he suddenly stopped running and ignited the ground around him. He then lay down on the smoldering embers and inhaled the thin layer of oxygen clinging to the ground. The fire passed over him and, after several terrifying minutes, Dodge emerged from the ashes, virtually unscathed."

I recommend reading the entire piece, it is very well done. My purpose in sharing the story is that I find the insight and quick thinking of Wagner Dodge to be inspiring. He was able to control his nerves, slow down and draw on his past experience/knowledge to save himself.
How often do we flail about in life or business looking for direction and safe passage. I find it an interesting pattern that if, like Dodge, we slow down, survey the situation, and draw on past experiences we are able to see the nuances in the crisis that then bring clarity. As someone who subscribes to the belief in an extremely personal transcendent God, I find that in these moments of quite/slowness the nuance can be directed or revealed. Maybe we need to slow down and survey our environment so as to not miss the nuance.