Fire.
If you think about it, our first invention, and still one of the most fascinating. Hypnotic and soothing. Capable of destruction or live-giving warmth.
A couple of weeks ago, we visited the Holocaust museum. The sheer horror of what is witnessed there can't be described in words. You would have to be a monster to not be affected by what is contained there. It was very crowded towards the end, yet there was no smiling, laughing, or joking as in the other museum. Only grim witnesses. People spoke in whispers, as if what we were viewing would be awoken and somehow closer by loud noises. Yet, after all has been viewed, and every horror is seen, there was the room of fire. This room had hundreds of candles, and an eternal flame. The fire comforts and relieves the mind. It is an interesting aspect of fire that it can help heal this intellectual wound.
Then, not a week later, the family farm shop burned down. Millions of dollars worth of equipment, tools, and property were lost. The fire was so hot that tools and equipment designed to stand for decades were reduced to pools of molten metal. A pile of charred and burned out remains were left, but that’s all. Fortunately nobody was harmed. Looking at the pictures, my cousins and I can identify dozens of childhood memories. There is the small tractor that we would hook a wagon too and drive around the farm while we played hide-and-seek for hours. The wagons we climbed up and over, building forts from bales of straw. The larger tractors that we learned to drive, now nothing but frames. The entire building, where my father worked for longer then I have been alive. I could go on and on. All gone in a few hours. Nobody is sure what started it, and I doubt anyone will ever know for sure.
Yet, the next day my father could be heard to say "Can I clean a shop or what!?", and my uncle would respond to phone calls with "Dennings fire sale!" It will be rebuilt. This time differently, in separate buildings.
In the end, fire will be there to keep it warm, though hopefully not quite that warm again.
Isn't fire interesting?
A couple of weeks ago, we visited the Holocaust museum. The sheer horror of what is witnessed there can't be described in words. You would have to be a monster to not be affected by what is contained there. It was very crowded towards the end, yet there was no smiling, laughing, or joking as in the other museum. Only grim witnesses. People spoke in whispers, as if what we were viewing would be awoken and somehow closer by loud noises. Yet, after all has been viewed, and every horror is seen, there was the room of fire. This room had hundreds of candles, and an eternal flame. The fire comforts and relieves the mind. It is an interesting aspect of fire that it can help heal this intellectual wound.
Then, not a week later, the family farm shop burned down. Millions of dollars worth of equipment, tools, and property were lost. The fire was so hot that tools and equipment designed to stand for decades were reduced to pools of molten metal. A pile of charred and burned out remains were left, but that’s all. Fortunately nobody was harmed. Looking at the pictures, my cousins and I can identify dozens of childhood memories. There is the small tractor that we would hook a wagon too and drive around the farm while we played hide-and-seek for hours. The wagons we climbed up and over, building forts from bales of straw. The larger tractors that we learned to drive, now nothing but frames. The entire building, where my father worked for longer then I have been alive. I could go on and on. All gone in a few hours. Nobody is sure what started it, and I doubt anyone will ever know for sure.
Yet, the next day my father could be heard to say "Can I clean a shop or what!?", and my uncle would respond to phone calls with "Dennings fire sale!" It will be rebuilt. This time differently, in separate buildings.
In the end, fire will be there to keep it warm, though hopefully not quite that warm again.
Isn't fire interesting?