Fired

Drawn like moths to a flame we sit near fancy metal contraptions heating us just enough so that our chilled wine doesn’t make us uncomfortably cold. Unlike cave dwellers, native people or pioneers who gathered kindling and wood, brokered tending schedules with each other to keep tender coals lit, all while resisting the elements of snow, wind and rain, we have evolved to source our heat in simpler, if not lazier ways.

Gas flames spit forth through glass stones and cylinders calling us to bask in their warmth. Beneath the base of the fire isn’t any hearth we’ve collectively known from our thousands of years. A tank of gas bottled and distributed serves as our unearned kindling. We’ve known since the invention of fire to rely on it for sustenance, heat, and for shared gathering space.

We still gather, in smaller isolated groups talking about life as it affects us individually or within our comfort groups. We don’t squat near a space heater and share the work of tending our space. We don’t build the fire and watch our work burn down. Now we invite friends to our fire, but rarely a stranger and I think we are all stranger for it.

Now we huddle near life giving flames as a mood lift, as an atmospheric boost to our environment. We possess the power to bring a personal sun into our sphere. What other power could we harness? Suns of our own making now hold our drink on their rim or stand guard near us at dinner, they brighten outdoor patios and bars bringing continued enjoyment as temperatures drop in this outdoor chill swift setting into the Midwest and across our part of the globe as it tilts away from the sun.

I’m not opposed to our technological heating devices, wonders that they are. Cleaner, quicker to warm us, far easier in urban landscapes, they suffice when open flame isn’t recommended among centenary row homes and dry tinder isn’t a simple walk away. Still those metal dragon skeletons will litter our landfill someday rather than burn into a fertile ash. I suppose one question is have we created warmth or another fire to put out? Either way I am currently grateful for the heat I feel. I’m just wondering if we can ever get back to the purpose and cooperation we felt when we had to draw near to others over our fires, tend them with care and for the greater good, put them out together.