On a Monday night almost exactly a year ago, we were drawn outside to balmy (at least for Ohio in December) 50 degree Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) weather and a beautiful sunset. But, the sky was soon clouded by a huge pillar of smoke. Our neighbor’s barn had caught fire and within minutes was fully involved. As it burned, their 13-year-old girl ran in to rescue their three dogs (which were thankfully the only occupants at the time). In less than an hour, something that had stood for 120 years was virtually gone.
Soon after the fire trucks arrived and began putting water on the fire the owner was emboldened by the slowing fire and ran in to the barn to save his truck. Enough water had landed on the dirt floor that the truck was already mired in mud. By the time he got it free and drove out, it was already in flames! Before long, the fire department turned their hoses on the nearby house, which was in danger of catching fire itself merely from radiated heat. Today, nothing is standing but a few charred timbers. The blackened but still driveable truck, a lonely tarp-covered tractor and the bubbled siding on the house are reminders of the fire’s intensity. The mother dog, which once had furless, reddened patches of skin now has a full coat again. With the holiday season arriving, an event like this makes you think. If fire hit your home or barn, what would you risk your life to save? How would you react if you saw a loved one going into a burning building? Are the things you would try save important enough to you to risk your life for? Most important, what are you doing now to show your love for the people you care about?
What things are worth risking your life for? In terms of the article, definitely the dogs were more important to save versus the truck, IMO. Flesh and blood will always trump inanimate objects in my book.
I would be very upset with my 13 yr old if he ran into a burning building to rescue dogs. Not that I wouldn’t want the dogs to be safe, I would, but its not worth the risk to my 13 yr old. Would I go back for a truck? No. Dogs? No. A person? Yes. So I will add to Gingerella’s post. Human flesh and blood trumps animal flesh and blood which trumps inanimate objects. So the only thing that would get me back into a burning building would be a person.
We had a house fire on July 14th, 2004. My husband, son, and new grandson were gone, only my daughter-in-law and I were at home. When I realized that it was out of hand and had called the fire department all I grabbed was my purse (just like a woman), and I didn’t realize until later that I had grabbed it. Everyone I loved was safe and the rest was just stuff.