Fire...

The Catalina Mountains, which form the northern border of Tucson, Arizona, is fighting for its life. Mount Lemmon, a place with very special memories, is in trouble at this moment. The Aspen fire, named after an old hiking trail near which it was thought to have begun on Tuesday, has consumed at least 11,400 acres of dense woods and brush in the Coronado National Forest northeast of Tucson.

While many forest fires result from human negligence, fire has its natural place in our ecological order. We hate to lose our precious natural resources to fire, but at times that is Nature's way of providing balance to her system.

Many cultures have gods and goddesses of fire. Hephaestus is the Greek God of Fire. In Roman mythology, Vulcan symbolized fire. Fire must be respected because of its power to not only destroy but meld and weld us together.

My father-in-law, Ken, was a fire warrior. He fought fire for a living for over 30 years. He knew the ways of fire--its many dances. I miss him. There is a wisdom associated with fire that all of us must come to understand at one or more points in our lives.

Know the ways of fire and respect its ability to both consume and create.