The Forgotten Firefighter

There was once a country that did not have firefighters. Although they had many fires and many lives were lost, they were too afraid of getting hurt. When one of their wooden houses or buildings caught fire everyone fled. Those who were caught unaware or who were unable to escape died in these periodic conflagrations. Usually they were the most vulnerable: the sick, elderly and very young.

Different solutions were implemented: A few instituted an early warning system; watchmen who rang bells to alert people of danger. Others created laws to identify how a fire started and strict punishments for those responsible. And many built shrines to appease the gods who they felt were condemning their society. Yet, neither the piety of the people, nor the number of watchtowers, nor the threat of imprisonment slowed the death toll.

There was much despair and frustration, but what could they do? It was the way of the world.

One day a young man passed a burning building. (The fires were so frequent it was common for pedestrians to merely cross the street and continue on with their business.) He heard the cries of a child and unable to ignore it, rushed into the building. The crowd was shocked at this act of apparent suicide. 'He has gone mad with grief, perhaps it was his own child.' But they were stunned when he returned several minutes later with the child in his arms. They were even more amazed when he said the child was no relation to him.

Many praised him, others mocked him, and a few dismissed him as a lunatic.

Both he and the child recovered and at first many praised him as a hero. Until he did it again.

'You will anger the gods. They will destroy you,' many warned him, agitated.

Others counseled him, 'This is the established order. Don't be reckless. Come we will give you work that is safe and you still be helping the people.

And a few scorned him, whispering, 'He is only doing it for the attention. He does not care about anyone but himself. He makes us look like cowards.' This group were the watchmen.

When asked what made him act so foolishly, he replied, 'I can no longer stand by and watch as people burn.' His use of the word watch, enraged the watchmen. They felt he was mocking them directly.

For the next several days they publicly denounced him and his motivations. They were very persuasive because it was easy to portray the young man as arrogant. A town meeting was called to cast him out of their community. During the debates he said nothing, and indeed very few voices spoke out in his defense. The trial ended and it seemed the next day the young man would be exiled.

But in the middle of the night he woke up surrounded by flames. His entire building was sure to collapse at any minute. He ran through the flames to the nearest exit. Miraculously, he made it downstairs and out to the street.

Just then he heard the cries of his elderly neighbors from the third floor. Still wrapped in his blanket he ran to the gathering crowd. Giving five of them the blanket and quick instructions he ran back into the building, all but naked. With amazing speed he appeared in the window next to the old couple. He ordered the five to hold the blanket taut, but they were too afraid to even approach the building as it was about to collapse. Despite all his urgency, they were still frozen in place when the supports finally gave way.

Many were silent, some were ashamed and a few were secretly glad he was gone.

Despite the tragedy or perhaps because of it, the people never spoke of it again. To this very day they live in the fear of fire.