Sunday Scribblings - February 27th 2011

The prompt for this weeks Sunday Scribblings is "fire", inspired by the quote "Remember you are not here to play it safe. You are here to start fires." - Sera Beak. 


This weeks post is different from previous weeks in which I have posted a poem. The prompt "fire" has sparked a memory which I have decided to write about. As I started to think about what to write I thought it did not really relate to the quote very much but it seemed to weave itself in as I thought more and began writing. 


Fire and trust 


In 1995 I spent my first year as a teacher at Fregon which is an Aboriginal community on the Pitjantjatjara Lands towards the top of South Australia. It is very isolated (although not as much as some other communities) being about 1300kms from Adelaide including a 2 hour drive on a dirt road. 


For me one of the highlights of the year (and there were many) was an overnight trip with the school as well as a class of students, teachers and parents visiting from Victor Harbour. My brand new swag was thrown into the trailer along with the many others. Everyone piled into four wheel drives for the short drive to ... somewhere. It was in the middle of nowhere and I really had no idea exactly where I was. It really struck me at the time how dependant I was on the Anangu people who took us there. I was very aware that left there on my own there was absolutely no chance of me surviving. 


Soon after we arrived I watched two small children light a fire. I was amazed at the skill and care taken by the two six year olds. It was not something that I was used to watching and allowing children of that age to do. I did have the trust however that those children knew what they were doing and the adults knew that they were capable and would not have allowed them to if they were not. 


It was a great day, sitting around the fire, watching children play and joining in at times. Lots of great memories. That evening we were settling down to sleep when we heard music and got up to investigate. Children had been painted and we watched an impromptu performance. How special to watch traditional dancing in such a remote place. It is an experience I will never forget. 


When we finally got back to our swags for another attempt at sleeping, there was a man setting fire to a tree nearby. He told us there were wild camels around and the fire would keep them away. The fire quickly spread to the surrounding trees and I was really quite scared. There was quite a lot of discussion between us teachers. Would it be better to be trampled by camels or burnt by fire? It was necessary to trust that these people would keep us safe. That they knew what they were doing. It did take me quite a while to get to sleep and I had quite an eye on the fire. Finally I got a little sleep and awoke safely to smoldering fire nearby. 


Thinking about this experience has got me thinking about trust. I have always been quite an independent person, placing quite a lot of trust in myself but not so much in others. My ability to trust others was further eroded when as a young adult I made the choice to place my trust in someone who I have since found out did not deserve it at all. There are times though when it is necessary to trust others. Sometimes we need to rely on others to keep us safe. We don't always know the answers. Likewise sometimes others may need to rely on us to keep them safe. I will continue to ponder these issues. Keeping safe may involve the lighting of fires, both literally or perhaps metaphorically. Really being alive rather than just existing may require some fire. 


What I have written seems almost in opposition to the quote but inspired by it all the same. I have really enjoyed this Sunday Scribblings prompt.