I always want to involve in the fire making in every BBQ party, even though I know for sure I will sweat like a pig through the process of it. I am not sure why people say it is an essential skill of every manly man but I want to build fire because I am having fun out of it.
I learnt fire making during my time as a Pertahanan Awam cadet, a government body similar as 911 service in the US or 112 in Europe. During that time, my friends and I used to frequently compete with each other, to see who could build a fire the fastest, with only 3 matches, a knife and wood supply. Ahh... good old times! I don't remember when I made my first fire. But since then for every fire I build, I always have the same feeling swelling inside me, the same feeling when you had created something great, when you are empowered. In control. Since we were young, adults always told us that fire was dangerous. Yes it is. But when once you'd learnt how to make fire and control it, you will feel your existence as real as never before.
This feeling is never exhibited more perfectly on the big screen than the movie Cast Away. I always laugh during the scene in which Tom Hanks' character struggles so much but persists, and successfully make a fire in the end. I laugh because it is so true. Ever since, I quote his line every time I make a fire : Yeah! Look what I have created! I have made fire! I ... have made fire!
Of course in Tom Hanks' position, a survival life-and-death situation, fire is really important for obvious reasons : warmth, lighting, protection against wild animals, to cook food, etc.. One more but mostly neglected reason is morale boosting, as showcased in Cast Away. I first heard of it in Bear Grylls' TV show, Man VS Wild. Sit in front of a bond fire and gaze at the flame is capable to help one through the most dire situation as I have experienced it multiple times during my ultrarunning adventures. After spending hours and hours at night through kilometers of trail in the cold windy mountains, tired, down. But after a few minutes of therapy by the bond fire at pit stop, I was always able to keep going again.
I learnt fire making during my time as a Pertahanan Awam cadet, a government body similar as 911 service in the US or 112 in Europe. During that time, my friends and I used to frequently compete with each other, to see who could build a fire the fastest, with only 3 matches, a knife and wood supply. Ahh... good old times! I don't remember when I made my first fire. But since then for every fire I build, I always have the same feeling swelling inside me, the same feeling when you had created something great, when you are empowered. In control. Since we were young, adults always told us that fire was dangerous. Yes it is. But when once you'd learnt how to make fire and control it, you will feel your existence as real as never before.
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| I have made fire! |
Of course in Tom Hanks' position, a survival life-and-death situation, fire is really important for obvious reasons : warmth, lighting, protection against wild animals, to cook food, etc.. One more but mostly neglected reason is morale boosting, as showcased in Cast Away. I first heard of it in Bear Grylls' TV show, Man VS Wild. Sit in front of a bond fire and gaze at the flame is capable to help one through the most dire situation as I have experienced it multiple times during my ultrarunning adventures. After spending hours and hours at night through kilometers of trail in the cold windy mountains, tired, down. But after a few minutes of therapy by the bond fire at pit stop, I was always able to keep going again.
From the classical elements of the Ancient Greece to the Chinese Wu Xing, there is no coincidence that people in the past assume fire is one of the basic elements forming the world around us, although we now know that fire is not element at all but a chemical process. Nevertheless, there is just something about fire, something pure and captivating. Aang in The Last Airbender, pretty much sums up what fire is about and I quote :
All this time, I thought firebending was destruction. ... But now I know what it really is. It's energy and life.
That is why there used to be people worshiping fire. That is why eternal flames are still used to commemorate of historic events. Fire is awesome. Making fire is awesome. Undoubtedly dangerous but awesome because it's energy and life.
Or may be deep down I am a pyromaniac.
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