Fire
I regularly order stuff from the Internet, but I don’t normally receive it where I live; I get concerned that I won’t be home when the delivery person arrives, and they either won’t deliver the item or they’ll just leave it on my porch–where someone might take it.
To deal with all that, I usually receive packages at a mail service; they are open regular business hours and can sign for items that are addressed to me.
The other day, I went there to get some packages that I was expecting. They had just had a fire(!). The proprietors were there but it appeared that all the electricity was off, and I could not go in.
I went back a few days later and saw–by way of a sign on their door–that they had temporarily relocated. I went to the new location and the proprietors gave me my packages. As I walked away, I realized that the items smelled like smoke and soot, which felt eerie to me.
There is no doubt that fire has been enormously useful to humanity, but fire can also be terribly destructive. I think about the firebombing of Dresden during World War II or more recently, the burnings in Kenosha, WI during the BLM riots.
(Coincidentally, today at work, we had a fire drill.)
Published: Fri 08 Aug 2025
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