At some point in life everyone has had an experience with fire of some sort. The truth of this is that such an encounter, even if it is only from afar, is inevitable. As one of the elements that sustains life on our planet it is almost impossible to go without ever experiencing the beautiful yet destructive force that is fire. I have seen it and felt it, and in all honesty I am a little afraid of it. But one line that I heard in a movie has resonated with me for a long time now. In order to understand fire, to really accept it, you have to love it a little.
This is not a call to become an arsonist, but rather to appreciate the basic, raw element that is fire. It is in fact a living thing that feeds, breathes, and even hates (Backdraft, 1991) if one seeks to attribute such emotions to the flames. In my own experience I have found it to be an alluring substance that has no body, no real form of its own save that which is afforded by gravity and the very nature of its existence. It is beautiful in a way, powerful and powerless all at once against its own nature. The way it slides over surfaces and consumes all it touches is frightening to be certain, but also vaguely haunting in the way that the flames dance and writhe upon its intended feast, as though it seeks to embrace the very thing it destroys.
I have avoided direct contact with fire aside from controlled circumstances, and prefer it
that way. While I find it very calming and even meditative at times, it is still a danger. The
flames do not care who they touch with their deadly embrace. I might love it a little, but I am
respectful of its inherent danger as well.
Works Cited
Backdraft. Dir. Ron Howard. Perf. Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Robert De Niro, and Scott
Glenn. Universal Pictures, 1991. Film.
