Earth, Wind, and Fire Fighters

It’s comforting to know we still have fire fighters amongst us — people dedicated to finding fires and then fighting them. Fire needs to be fought.
There are other primal forces that need to be fought, of course. I’d like to be a wind fighter. I’d go around putting out dangerous winds. Or perhaps a dirt fighter. Or I could combine both, and I’d fight hazardous dirt-wind constructs, like dust storms. But there doesn’t seem to be a market there. It’s hard to fight wind and dirt, sure. But also, maybe we just don’t fear wind or dirt as quite much as we fear fire. Certainly, we don’t fear them as much as we should.
We have disease fighters, and we call them doctors, nurses, researchers. We have crime fighters, and we call them police or detectives. Some people call them “bobbies.”
It’s different with fire. It’s a different kind of fear. Our fear of fire makes us smaller, crouching, even cold. We need to be reassured straight-shot with a steady gaze. A roundabout word won’t cut it. We need to be told yes, there are fires. There will always be fires. But have no fear.
There are fire fighters too.

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