Forest Fires

Originally Written on June 8

I have witnessed two forest fires in my life.  One was in Yellowstone Park. I was among the last people to leave the Park in my car on the day that the largest forest fire in Yellowstone's modern history came roaring out of the mountains.

The fire moved with such swiftness that I almost had to drive my car as fast as it could go to escape the onrushing flames.  I had never seen destruction move with such speed.

The other fire started on the mountain near my parents' house.  It was a windy day and the flames hurtled down the mountain consuming all homes in its path.  You could hear the pine trees exploding in the distance their sap superheated and combustable.

My family and I rushed quickly to throw our most valuable possessions into our car--photo albums, the jewelry box, important documents, some clothes, whatever we could carry quickly.

As we drove off, abandoning our house to the flames, the wind shifted direction quickly, carrying the fire in another direction and all was saved.  Except for those homes that found themselves suddenly in the middle of the new path.  Fire is unforgiving and fate seems often nothing more than random luck or misfortune.

Another fire crossed my path today.  But it wasn't flame that I was trying to outrun, but rather this conflagration was of human making in the form of an angry mob.  Anger.  What I experienced today was far more dangerous and frightening than any fire I have ever witnessed. And this fire fills me with greater sorrow, because unlike nature, it is something we humans should be able to control, if only we would try.  Or maybe it is the same as nature, this fire of anger, in that once ablaze it is beyond the power of human forces to control, though I wish this conclusion won't be the one stays with me past tonight.

As with the two forest fires in my earlier life, this one today we did barely manage to escape.  And as I survey the scorched earth around me, I wonder where any unburned land can possibly be found.  But still we must try to find it.