Changes - A Fire

      Fire and change go hand in hand. The burning down of a forest leads to new life and growth, and the burning down of a building, however tragic, paves the way for a new structure to be built in its stead. However, to view change, one only needs to look at the fire itself and how it progresses through its proverbial life.

      A fire begins as nothing but a pile of wood or other burnable substances. In it there is nothing special and it could be easily mistaken for a pile of garbage. In this form, it is lifeless. Then someone introduces a spark or a flame. Someone breathes life into this lifeless pile. If the conditions are right for the pile to catch, then that spark or flame is carried over into the pile of material and a small flame is finally visible. However small or weak, this pile now has life. As the minutes go by, this flame begins to catch other pieces of wood near itself on fire as it begins to spread throughout the pile, bringing to life the entire thing. The life inside of this fire is young and ready to grow to its full potential. As the fire burns bigger and brighter, one must feed it fuel in the same way a living organism must be fed or obtain food. If it is not fed it will simply burn itself out. It is during this time that the fire reaches its peak, its apex. It is burning the brightest, hottest, and biggest that it ever will. This is when it is the most full of life. As time continues to pass, the fire gradually begins to get dimmer and less hot. It is entering the final stages of its life. The fire will continue to burn all of the wood it has until nothing is left except a pile of ashes and embers. This is how all fires will end: in a pile of ash and a few warm embers that eventually go cold. This is when its life is completely gone.

      This is how the fire that I observed acted in my fireplace acted. We lit it with a match and the gas in the fireplace helped to get it going. As it grew the fire got warmer and brighter until eventually the entire pile of original wood was consumed in a fiery ball of flames. It was at this point we began to feed the fire to keep it going. As long as we fed the fire more wood when it started to wane in strength, the fire would continue to stay bright and warm. When it was almost time for us to go to bed, we stopped feeding the fire. The fire then began to slowly shrink and get less warm so that, by the time we were heading off to bed, it was nothing but ash and a few glowing embers. In the morning when I got up I went downstairs and over to the fireplace. Upon placing my hand over the ash, I felt no heat, no warmth whatsoever. This is when the fire was completely out, completely dead.

      The life of a fire is, in its most basic form, the life of any organism. It begins lifelessly and life is then breathed into it. It then continues to grow and mature until it is at its fullest. It is at this point that if no sustenance is given to it, it will surely die. So the organism continues to eat and to live. Then however, it begins to die. It does not happen immediately and occurs slowly over time, similar in the way that the fire slowly began to dim. Finally, the organism, like the embers and ash, is near death, simply waiting for the last embers to extinguish themselves. Then it happens; the last ember dies out, and it is all over. The fire came from nothing and went to nothing. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.