On Flames, Fire, and Casting Light Without Scorching

I've posted before about Eduardo Galeano, one of my favorite authors, and his book, The Book of Embraces.  Tomorrow night, Friday, about 10 of my friends are celebrating my birthday with me at Drunken Fish, the sushi place in Oakland.  They are an amazing group of people, most of them committed to public interest and social justice issues.  Tonight, I sat and wrote each one a card, describing what I love about each of them, to give to them tomorrow ~ I guess I have gone soft and sappy in my 'golden years'.  Anyway, if you don't already know Galeano, check him out!  The Book of Embraces is even the basis for a Chamber Opera entitled "The House of Words," conceived by French Canadian composer/conductor, Linda Brouchard.  You can read about the opera, its concept, and the production, here.

Anyway, here is one of my favorite pieces in Galeano's Book of Embraces ~ the one that always makes me think about my friends, and ultimately, about what kind of flame I want lighting up my world, and which kind of flame *I* want to be.  Which one are you?

The World
A man from the town of Neguá, on the coast of Colombia, could climb into the sky.
On his return, he described his trip. He told how he had contemplated human life from on high. He said we are a sea of tiny flames.
The world, he revealed, is a heap of people, a sea of tiny flames.
Each person shines with his or her own light. No two flames are alike. There are big flames and little flames, flames of every color. Some people’s flames are so still they don’t even flicker in the wind, while others have wild flames that fill the air with sparks. Some foolish flames neither burn nor shed light, but others blaze with life so fiercely that you can’t look at them without blinking and if you approach, you shine in fire.