Fire Bad. Fire BAD!

As far as something that could befall anyone, maybe even at any time, fire tops the chart of things to be afraid of, and with good reason. As a useful thing fire is a powerful tool. In fact we have to consider not just the fire but also the heat, so rather than imagine speaking of just crackling to shooting flames imagine the whole kit and caboodle. It's when fire gets out of hand or is misused that this great and useful tool becomes an object of abject terror.

Fire is a great destroyer. Not only can it wipe away the physical but it can do harm on a more "spiritual" level. Consider the huge demoralizing affect it can have from just a house fire. All that time fixing or maintaining the house is gone, all the memories that the contents of the house had are blotted out, and all the memories of the place itself are supplanted (these last too temporarily, but still). Beyond the scars to the psyche this is not to mention the scars that may result to the body if the fire alarm doesn't rouse you soon enough, or the children have to be rescued from the flames before the firemen arrive, for example.

Now, imagine the same loss on a larger scale, like the fire that tore through old Chicago. On the other hand the scale need not be increased to heighten the horror. For that, all that is required is a simple thing called motive. The fear of something happening accidentally or as part of an unforeseeable result of something only goes so far. It has to go only so far; otherwise we would be crushed by such fear. When the cause is purposeful, and motivated by hate or greed or, put simply, the wills of men then there is a whole new added dimension of fear.

Speaking of the wills of men. What of that step beyond the norm to those in fiction who can will fire into existence and wield it at their whim? Is that not some kind of ultimate crystallization of the power of fire as a force of fear in the form of a person? Does that not speak of great horror in the making? It sometimes may not seem so when such power is frequently bandied about and given a comic-bookish quality. That seeming may be very contrary to the idea itself though. Someone should do something about that.

Mood: frantic.
Music: Die With Your Boots On by Iron Maiden and The Hand That Feeds by Nine Inch Nails.

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