14 Jul2014
Written by Northwestern College. Posted in Personal Development
In a story by Jack London entitled “To Start a Fire,” a lone man lost in the frozen wilderness is desperately trying to light a fire with the few remaining matches he has with him. He knows that if he fails, he will die. As nightfall comes and the winter chill becomes stronger, he seeks shelter under a tree and attempts to start a fire. One by one, each match is lost. One burns his fingers and is dropped; another is extinguished by a random fall of snow from the tree. Despite his desperate need for warmth, the woods and darkness are indifferent to his struggle. Eventually, he loses his last match and darkness ensues. The reader is left to understand that this man did not make it. During his attempt to survive, he never called out for help or expressed rage at the circumstances in which he finds himself. Instead, he went to his death doing everything in his own power to survive, but it wasn’t enough.