A Metaphor for Today...

Being in love is like being around a campfire. The first time you are around a camp fire...as a kid...you think it is beautiful the way it sparks and crackles...the shifting colors of the flames...the glow of the embers around the base of the fire...the whoosh of sparks as more fuel as added to the fire...but because you have no experience of fire...you can only see its beauty...and you reach for it...coming too close...and end up getting singed a bit.

As you get older you come across other fires...some brighter and some dimmer than that first...but each one is just as beautiful...just as alluring...but you've come to learn some caution. At first you may err on the side of too much caution...standing outside of the firelight wanting to bring yourself closer to the campfire but remember the pain of being burned before...so instead you stand just outside the circle of light...just out of reach of the campires heat...wanting to stop shivering in the cold...but too afraid to step any closer. For most people...an understanding arises that in order to truly be able to appreciate all the campfire has to offer...you have to be willing to step closer to it...but with respect. Most learn that with careful nuturing you can build the fire, watching its majesty grow, luxuriating in its heat, know that as long as you honor the fire you will be able to enjoy all it has to offer without putting yourself in danger. The longer your relationship with the campfire either through extended exposure or the careful rebuilding of campfires over the years...you are able to draw closer to the flames without being burned...know how much of yourself you can give to the fire...and how much you have to hold back in order to safely maintain your personal integrity.

Some people never really learn from that first lesson and continue to throw themselves again and again at the fire...perhaps starting off with respect but always...through excitment or fear of the campfire going out reach out and grab at sparks or try to keep the fire from collapsing...risking too much to hold onto the heat or to keep it from going out...the nature of campfires is that there are times when the flames must die down to embers...sometimes those embers go out...other times they smoulder for sometime...and other times they can be coaxed back into something brilliant again...but experience has to teach you how to read the fire and make a choice whether to try and rebuild it...or to let it go out and build another fire...in another place.

And finally there are those that never recover from being singed by the flames. Either the first time was truly terribly or after too many times of being singed...instead of taking the time to look at their mistakes in the past...or accidents of the campfire...for example...it collapsing suddenly...unexpectedly...sending sparks into what has always been a safe place...burning frightfully when you are not expecting it...but whatever the cause...some people decide that its best to wrap themselves in a blanket...to rely on their own heat for survival...shivering now and again...but safely out of reach of the campfire...which they watch with longing and desire...remembering the kiss of firelight...how it warms the skin...soothes...and excites...but not willing to risk being burned again..they sit with too much fear...watching the flames grow and fade...too afraid to step inside the warm ring of the campfire...so instead...the sit...and watch...desperately wishing that the fire would come to the them.

Comments

[- khitthea -]

this is nice...you're right...some are too afraid to step inside the ring of campfire for the fear that they might get burned again...they're too afraid to take the risk of seeing and feeling the warmth of the fire...and honestly, im one of them...i know someday the "fire" would come and touch me again...