As Edith Sodergran, a Finnish poet, once wrote “The inner fire is the most important thing mankind possesses.” Every one of you in this room has in inner fire. This inner fire is what drives your desires and decisions in your life. Some of yours are well maintained, clear of ashes and burning cleanly, while others have yet to learn how to keep it from running out or suffocating. I am not a fireman or a spiritualist; however, I am a college student. If there is one thing that all college students know about, it is how to burn out. That is why I would like to talk to you all today about what I personally need to keep my fire burning, in hopes that it may help you understand better what you need to keep yourselves alight. For any fire to exist, it requires at least three things: Fuel, air, and heat. But what do these components mean to people? Let me explain.
Have you ever felt run down and needed to refuel? Fuel is what keeps you energized in life. What keeps you inspired and motivated to give each day your best effort and to create positive energy for yourselves and others. For my personal fire, achievement is my main fuel. In my personal life, my flame will keep burning so long as I believe I am making progress.
For example, growing up I was homeschooled. Although homeschooling can work for some people, there were many things it could not provide for me. As a result, I ended up feeling very depressed. It was not until I went to Mercer that I got the educational and social interaction that I needed. I performed much better in college than I did previously. I felt personally recharged and found myself doing better because I felt better about doing.
Another of my experiences with achievement was when I was working on an extracurricul...
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...something else so I would not feel bad. This is a terrible way to live, and all it does is chain your actions against the will of others. I have worked hard on not comparing myself with others but I don’t think I’m doing as well as other people at it… but I will get there.
If you keep yourself well-ventilated and open, your fire will have room to grow.
The fuel, heat, and air needed for my fire are my personal achievements, the people in my life, and my freedom. Without any of these three things my fire will die out. I ask of all of you that you take time to think about your own lives, and what keeps your fires going. With a little more attention and effort, your flames will reach new heights. If Edith Sodergran was right about the importance of mankind’s inner fire, than I hope someday everyone can see how bright and colorful each other’s flames can be. THANK YOU.
2. “Oh yes. Without the fire we can’t be rescued. So we must stay by the fire and make smoke.” (156).
Fire played a very important role in the lives of the early Fond du Lac pioneers. It provided people with heat, light, and a means to cook. Almost every home in Fond du Lac had some sort of stove or fireplace. If a fire got out of control, that house and surrounding homes were in danger of burning down. As the town’s population grew larger and larger, the number of fire sources went up as well. The chances of a fire getting out of control were growing quickly. People soon began to fear the inevitable.
Maclean utilizes various fragments of factual interviews, personal observation, theoretical fire science, and his own distinct exploration to compose this "factual fabricati...
...rown puts it “Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can't strike them all by ourselves; we need oxygen and a candle to help” (Esquivel 115), in Tita’s case the candle was an actual candle and the fire took the form of real fire, in order to bring the extended metaphor or fire and matches as a symbolic representation of the soul to a magical and passionate climax. Esquivel uses fire to symbolically represent passion and love, which in just like fire, is not without negative effects. Passion and love can be used as a tool of spite, as it was by the ghost of Mama Elena or it can be pure bliss. Either way, the exaggeration of the attributes and pivotal role of fire as the driving force of life illustrate a deeper truth about the dualistic nature of passion.
“[Fire is] perpetual motion; the thing man wanted to invent but never did... It’s a mystery... It’s real beauty is that it destroys responsibility and consequences... clean, quick, sure; nothing to rot later. Antibiotic, aesthetic, practical” (Bradbury 115).
Bradbury first depicted fire as a hurtful force through Montag, a fireman, who burn books. With the converted mentality of his culture, “it was [Montag’s] pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed” (3). Montag’s culture sees burning as an enjoyment; however, the fire portrayed here demonstrates the destruction of knowledge and personality. While Montag’s profession brings him joy he does not understand that burning is the most permanent form of destruction. He is oblivious to his governments’ strong desire to eliminate the ideas and knowledge that books hold. In this society, where ignorance is bliss and their phobia of unhappiness controls all aspects of life, people believe that their destructive fire “is bright and…clean”, as it is used as a means to keep themselves oblivious and happy (60). In addition, Bradbury establishes the difference in the symbolisms of fire by naming part one of his novel “The Hearth and the Salamander”. The hearth is the fireplace of the home and is the most positive image of fire. This fire contributes warmth and restores relationships between people. The salamander, the symbol of the firemen, and who personify fire’s destruction is contrasted with the hearth, which represents restoration.
People around the city went to bed, everything seemed relatively normal. Smoke dwindling into the dark night sky, the faint smell of burning wood. All normal for Chicago. Fires were a daily part of life for this wooden city. Near the time of 2 a.m. the fire didn’t seem so normal and average anymore. A mean flame was being born, it was blazing to life.
I was raised in an encouraging household where both of my parents greatly valued education. Although they were high school graduates, neither could afford to attend college; a combination of family and financial woes ultimately halted their path. As a result, my parents frequently reminded me that getting a good education meant better opportunities for my future. To my parents, that seemed to be the overarching goal: a better life for me than the one they had. My parents wanted me to excel and supported me financially and emotionally of which the former was something their parents were not able to provide. Their desire to facilitate a change in my destiny is one of many essential events that contributed to my world view.
Although fire is linked to human life, as it is essential for survival, not only its use for food, security and warmth, particularly in the extreme cold weather
"To Build a Fire Characters." Study Guides & Essay Editing. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2014. .
Throughout recorded history, fires have been known to cause great loss of life, property, and knowledge. The Great Fire of London was easily one of the worst fires mankind has ever seen causing large scale destruction and terror. Samuel Pepys described the fire as “A most malicious bloody flame, as one entire arch of fire of above a mile long… the churches, houses and all on fire and flaming at once, and a horrid noise the flames made.” (Britain Express 1).
The short story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London is a comprehensive story that tackles the struggles of a newcomer trying to survive a day in the Yukon with very harsh and cold weather. The man travels with a big native husky and tries many times to build a fire but fails due to his inadequate personality. The man repeatedly lets his ignorance and arrogance dictate his decisions which soon leads to his demise. The theme of the short story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London is that being ignorant, arrogant and foolish can lead to bad decisions.
In this essay, I will be defining and explain how four modern fire science researches has impacted fire science. Those 4 are infrared imaging, GPS, water mist and compressed air foam. These four have played a huge role in today’s research on detecting and extinguishing fires.
Jack London’s message in the writing “To Build a Fire” is to never underestimate the power of nature and following Experience would actually show someone that instincts should be trusted over ego and pride. London is known for being a Naturalist, naturalists are people that practice nature in literature or writings, naturalists believed that one’s surviving methods highly involve using one 's instinct. London’s “cautionary realist/ naturalist” text in the story “to build a fire” advices methods on the survivals of nature 's forces, this is a highly appropriate advice considering our struggle against disastrous natural phenomena such as global warming, tsunamis, floods, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and other geologic processes.
...r it is arson, an uncontrolled camp fire, or a cigarette butt it doesn’t take much for humans to spark a disaster. Yet there is as well a few set by good old Mother Nature. On top of the effects on the earth as well as humans, there is only one thing we all can do and that is listen to our old pal Smokey the Bear when he says, “only you can prevent wildfire.”