The Soul Of Jack London

I remember Jack London. I remember the amazing short stories he wrote. Of all of them, one sticks out in my mind today. "To Build A Fire." I made a correlation in my mind this morning that didn't quite seem to fit until i thought about it some more. I connected my current life, this piece of my existence to that story.

In the book, a man desperately needs to build a fire in the freezing cold Arctic. If he doesn't build the fire he will perish. It's an extreme story about extreme conditions. When the connection was forming in my head it wasn't that extreme, but it fit the bill.

That's how I feel right now. I feel like I'm building a fire. It's going extremely well as far as I can tell, a small, but extremely hot flame is burning. I want it to grow, to be a roaring bonfire. It needs attention and care and fuel to keep it burning. The fuel I have, and I hope I have enough. The attention, I can give and the care is overflowing.

The problem with fire is always the same. You must pay it attention and feed it what it needs to burn. Don't give it too much fuel or it will burn fast and hard and then die quickly. Fan it, give the embers the oxygen they need to get hotter, but don't fan too much or you will eventually just blow it out.

So here I am, in my life, trying to fan this fire and not put it out. I want it burning brightly. I want it to shine through the night. Fanning it too much, giving it too much attention may smother it though, and that would not do. So i'll make sure, i'll try very hard to give it the right amount of care and let it burn as it's supposed to.

This fire that lives in my heart, in her heart, started so quickly. Now we must keep it alive. It is what I'm living for, and without it, I will freeze in this arctic winter. Let it burn forever, because we've only just begun to feel the magnificent heat.
Let the soul of Jack London be witness, that to build this fire I will do anything.