"Coming Through the Fire"

There is a writer who I have been friends with for a year or so now. I thought I pretty much knew his background but the other day at a book signing he surprised me with something he said. We were discussing some part of our past careers and he told me something in his life happened before the fire.

I questioned him as to what fire he was talking about and he answered it was the fire of 1985 when he was caught up in an explosion and was badly burned. He said it was an electrical explosion and he was burned over thirty five per cent of his body. I was stunned as I had never heard any of this before, and had certainly never noticed that he looked scarred.

Still while he told me about the accident he showed me places on his hands and face where there were scars. He said the scar tissue is more noticeable in the summer when he has been out in the sun because scar tissue doesn't tan.

He didn't seem reluctant to talk about this experience so I questioned him more about it. He said he was in the burn unit for weeks and the third day of his injury was the worst. They had a tube down his throat to drain the congestion and it had to be suctioned about every fifteen minutes. They had given him morphine but he fought sleep because he was afraid he would try to breathe too heavily and the tube would become clogged. So he stayed awake and waited for the nurse to come drain the tube and then the whole process would start again.

My friend said his whole concentration was on drawing that next breath. He was determined to get that next minute of life. I asked why he just didn't give up and die, as many would have done in his situation, with the intense pain and all going on. He replied that he never thought about giving up. He knew he wanted to live and that thought pulled him through.

He also said when you come through something like this and survive, you are never the same. I am sure that is true. I have never been in a burned situation like that but I have instances in my life when I feel I have "come through the fire."

These times of great trial can leave you scarred physically and/or emotionally, but once you have survived them you are never the same again. Johnny Cash sang about a "ring of fire" and how it sometimes encloses you. That is when the heat of your life is so intense that you think you are going to combust. Situations and relationships can get so complex that you think you are going to burn up with desperation.

Still if you survive these "fire" moments you will be a stronger person. Some people don't survive them. They simply can't cope and have to let the flames just eat them up. I have known people like that. The flames of life wore them down and they figuratively threw up their hands in despair.

My friend was a person who came through a literal fire. He bears the scars but he is a better, saner person for having survived it. He says the fire made him a new man who knows what is important in life and what is not. 

So if you feel surrounded by "fire" know there are others who have been in your place and have made it through to safety. There is a chance for survival and a better place on the other side.

 

 

 

 

 

©2005 Jackie K. Cooper

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