Welcome to this Sunday’s Third Degree: Tough, Brief, Weekly Interrogations on matters public and private that force thinking and response. Today we target: Burning

  • Does it burn you up that the autumn sight and smells of burning leaves have, literally, gone up in the smoke of disapproval?
  • Was there ever joy so undiluted as falling angel-like into huge mounds of leaves then raking, feeding and tending the fire…..with dad?
  • Does it even beat the EE Cumming’s “puddle wonderful” moments of April?
  • Never a doubt, even as we concede another forced nod to the gorging, green god of global warming and attending, flitting spirits harping climate change?
  • Ah, sweet memories of 8 October except for Peshtigo and a cow of course?
  • Why is the deadliest US wildfire of all time barely remembered?
  • Drought, bad forest management, gale force winds, and fire wiped out Peshtigo Wisconsin killing over half its citizens with 1.2 million acres burned on Oct 8, 1871, climate change the culprit?
  • Discounting the fabled O’Leary cow story, did Climate Change strike again that same October 8 with the Great Chicago Fire and 100,000 people left homeless?
  • What about the great Michigan fire (Holland, Manistee, Port Huron) burning at the same time?
  • With a 23-year average of 68,000 wildfires/year (under that average in last 10 years), what climate or conspiratorial conclusions can be considered?
  • On another note, did Jerry Lee Lewis create a change of climate when he recorded “Great Balls of Fire” for the first time on Oct 8, 1957 in Memphis?
  • Was Don Larsen on fire Oct 8, 1956 smoking the only no hitter in World Series history?
  • Will 47,000 runners with fire in the belly go for it in the Chicago Marathon today?
  • Is there a certain circularity when today, Oct 8, 2023, kicks off national fire prevention week?
  • Should the NY Congressman (and defenders) who pulled the fire alarm to cause smoke of confusion and delay in House proceedings be ousted or censured at the least?
  • Does the Republican fire burn as brightly given the internecine ignition of last days?
  • Do unequal justice and selective, persecution/prosecution create a toxic smoke and destructive fire that truly threatens our climate of freedom?
  • Is it time to clear the smoke but burn more fires of renewal in the land?

Socrates reminds: “The unexamined life is not worth living”. The answers and actions are yours?