Most of you know this poem by memory. Probably memorized it in high school English class. Yet each time I read it, it never fails to give me goosebumps. Fire. Ice. Such opposites. Election ‘08. McCain = Fire. Obama = Ice. [Both equally capable of destroying this country!] NBA Basketball. Ron Artest = Fire. Tim Duncan = Ice. [Both great defenders nonetheless.]
Apply your own ‘fire and ice’ analogy. Maybe you have your own fire and/or ice aspect to your personality. Maybe it depends on the situation.
What is it that gets me about what Frost wrote? Potentially, the color contrast/imagery. The deep and glowing hues of red, yellow, and orange verses the cool blue vapor.
My faith teaches me to try and reduce both fire and ice within myself leading to no passion whatsoever. While a noble goal for monks and nuns, I’m a layman, and therefore unable to hold myself to such lofty ideals. One could say that in a world filled with arrogance, ego, and hate, it’s best to rise above the fray by staying away from it all.
But who are we kidding? The only way to do that is by literally removing yourself from society. How are you going to accomplish that? By moving to Walden Pond? Finding a new island and living there? Joining the monk or nun equivalent of whichever faith you practice?
No, I don’t think you’d consider those options. You’re too wrapped up, intentionally or unintentionally, in the drama of the world, its events, and most noticeably, its people.
So win.
Breathe fire…
But have ice in your veins.
