Taming Fire: My Daughter's Piece

(The following article is my daughter's piece--her entry to the BFP sponsored Feature Writing Contest for Elementary pupils as part of the Fire Prevention Awareness Month. The original title is, "Befriending Fire" and this is her third attempt in interpreting the theme: Fire Prevention Towards Development)

Fire is one of nature’s best gifts to mankind. Having tamed it, men of old set themselves apart from the wild beasts. It opened men to the vast possibilities that lesser animals failed to have. Befriending fire ushers them to greater heights.

Before, men are like the tigers and the wolves. They were both predators. They hunted their games and ate them raw. They never learned to cook. They never heard of beefsteaks and sunny sideup. “Ew,” says my little sister. “Cavemen were like the aswang and the momo. They ate uncooked foods.”

The lazy ones are like the cavemen too because they don’t know how to cook. They just buy hamburger at Jollibee. They never learn how to use it because they prefer to just lie down like Juan Tamad. They are not friends of the fire. They can never know the power of fire. They will never be able to tame it and use it for the better. Sure, they know how to play Farmville and Counterstrike. But that’s all they know because they are lazy. They spend their time playing on their laptop. But they are not friends of the fire. They will never tame fire for in the first place they don’t know how to make fire.

I know how to cook rice. My mother taught me. I wake up early and help her prepare breakfast. That way, I learned that fire is a friend. It helps us have a healthy sumptuous meal. And it lights our nights too. Fire lights the path of our President and leads him to his office where he could find ways to help our people. It lights the hall of congress so that our leaders could write good laws. It shines on our teachers so that they can teach us children to become better and turn to be the hope of our fatherland. Fire makes our world go round and bright night and day.

But if it runs out of control, if it falls on the hands of the lazy ones and the cavemen, then you better call for help. Fire, in their hands could be a dangerous element. It will burn our food and turn them into charcoal. It will burn our house and will make us howl like the wolves. It will destroy cities and forests and turn our planet into hell.

Before it is too late, call for help. The firemen will help us out. They too are friends of the fire. They know how to tame it. They are trained to control it. They know how to use it for the better. Maybe they too are good at cooking beefsteaks and sunny sideup.

So always make it a point that lazy people and cavemen and fire are separated from one another. They are enemies. Make a poster that warns us from the lazy and the cavemen. Don’t give them match sticks and lighter. Tell the firemen about them. They should be banned away from the fire. They should be banned far away from the President, lest they play with the fire that lights his way and burn his office. They should be banned far away from congress, lest they steal the fire that inspires them to write good laws. They should be banned from our teachers, lest they rob them of their spirits and turn them blind from guiding us children into the paths of righteousness. By all means, beware of the lazy people and the cavemen but seek to befriend the fire that gives us light and helps us cook beefsteaks and guides us far into a better, brighter future.