The campground openly invited us to use deadfall for campfires. And the chill of an early spring night encouraged us to accept the invitation. With a gathering of wood, a few sheets of newsprint and a match, it wasn’t long before flames blazed in the fire ring.
We sat around the campfire a couple of cold nights on a recent camping trip with Bob’s brother and his wife. The chill of the night air kept us close to the warmth of the fire. But, it also did so much more.
As we gazed into the red and yellow flames, we began to compare the soothing effect of a contained fire to that of flowing water, the all-time pacifier. Let me become agitated and I’ll retreat to the back porch. Within a few minutes of sitting where I can watch the ebb and flood of tidal waters, I can actually feel the always moving waters pull away the tenseness from my shoulders. A campfire or a roaring blaze in a fireplace always offers the same mesmerizing relaxation.
And while our conversations around the campfire began with the mundane, it wasn’t long before we were sharing memories of times past. The brothers’ memories of growing up soon prompted some vivid ones for their wives, too. Remember when...
We weren’t the only ones in the campground enjoying the ordinary. A fire blazed at most sites. Although full, it was a quiet campground where if one were still, he could actually hear the crackle of wood burning, a bit of laughter in the distance, an occasional hoot owl, even the serenity.
Fire and water: we have heard about their devastation on the news frequently. Too much rain and rivers flood. People die. The unforgettable Tsunami last December killed hundreds of thousands and now makes the survivors run for higher ground with each tremor of the ground. Likewise, forest fires sparked by lightning or a house fire caused by a dropped cigarette torching a bed can take life. Both water and fire are life sustaining elements. Out of control, each can snap out a life in an instant.
One of the most memorable scenes about these elements out of control that I’ve ever read lies in the first historical novel written in the Western Hemisphere. In The Iliad, Homer not only writes an entire chapter about the destructive forces of these two natural forces, but he also uses the battle between the two to symbolize the sheer destructiveness of war between nations, between individuals and most especially within ourselves.
In a rage over the death of his best friend at the hands of the Trojans, but really because of his own inaction, Achilles charges into battle like a mad man. Swinging his sword, he takes so many lives at the river that the waters run red with blood.
Personifying its disgust at such carnage, the river god floods its own banks, thus taking even more lives. To combat this destruction, the fire god steps in and sets the river a blaze. When the battle between water and fire finally subsides, all the land as far as one can see lies barren, unable to sustain life if any existed.
On occasion, people question the importance in studying ancient mythology rooted in pagan belief and primitive explanations of natural events. However, writers of all descriptions in every age from ancient times to now have marveled at the fundamental wisdom of the ancient Greeks who invented so much of western civilization as we now know it, including democracy, theater, literature, sports. The fictional gods which ancient men created in their own image still reflect a true understanding that whenever human beings begin to think they are invincible and godlike, their own excessive foibles not only destroy them, but also those around them.
As we relax by watching the ebb and flood of the sea or the crackling blaze of a campfire, we should be thankful and always vigilant. These God given elements, both in their bounty and in their mayhem, remind us daily of our blessings and our limitations.
2005
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