LESSONS LEARNED IN THE FIRE

When I was a young girl, barely six, a burning candle at night was my friend. Back then we had no access to electricity and though very young, I loved reading by candlelight. I could hardly make out the words in the magazines I collected, but the pictures helped to make sense of the text. My two older sisters with whom I shared a tiny bedroom had warned me numerous times of the dangers of reading unsupervised, but I was too stubborn to care.

One Tuesday night I had my very first bad encounter with fire. A burning candle fell on me and I was fascinated as I watched the flames lick my shirt. Little did I know what pain I was about to endure as the flames dug deeper into my flesh. I screamed, waking my sisters, and watched in horror as they ignorantly fanned the flames, making them worse. Then a bucket of cold water splashed all over me, bringing temporary cold relief.

To date, I still wear the scars on my arm – a reminder of those sweet, innocent years when I learned the hard way that though my friend, fire could also be an enemy.

I have since learned a few more lessons as I grew up. Papa usually took me with him when he went to make hot bathing water for the whole family in a big, three-legged pot outside. He did his best to rid me of my fear of fire by letting me fan the flames. Some of the lessons I learned from our interaction with fire are as follows:

A piece of wood which burns on its own will soon die out. Wood burns more effectively if it’s collectively organised and set to burn with other wood.

It is also true what they say: where there’s smoke, there’s ALWAYS fire. Papa always encouraged me to fan the wood which emitted the most smoke hardest, and ‘Eureka!’ they would eventually release beautiful flames.

Let’s strive to apply the lessons learned in the fire in our daily interactions. When handled correctly fire can be a friend, but if mishandled, it can cause a lot of irreparable damage.

Handle your relationships well, nurse them, treat them with kindness and care, and BRIGHTEN THE CORNER WHERE YOU ARE!

© Yvonne Mahlape Maserumule, 2014
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