The fire alarm went off 20 minutes ago in my private apartment building. I, my sister, no one up stairs [we can hear everything], the neighbors across the hall - we all didn’t leave.
I thought it was fascinating. Here are my initial thoughts:
1. 6:20 AM. Saturday. Awaken to the most unwelcome, high-frequency sound. Thoughts: “What the freak is going on? Am I dreaming? …. OH HELL NO, a fire-alarm? are you kidding me?”
2. 6:22 AM. Saturday, fire alarm continues. “Maybe I should leave, nah. … No, I should leave, this might be a real one. Nah, can’t be.”
3. 6:23 AM. Saturday. Go to my sister’s room, fire alarm continues. “Yo, you hear that? Should we leave?” Sister replies, “No, I’m not going out,” and resumes sleeping.
4. 6:25 AM. Saturday, “What should I do?” I actually go out into the hallway to check if anyone is leaving. No one is leaving. This adds more to the confusion. “Is this a real fire?”
5. 6:28 AM. Saturday, fire alarm is at piercing level. I look outside my 3rd story window. A fire truck comes. “Oh shoot, this is more serious than I thought.” “Why did they take so long?” “Maybe we should leave.” “Nah, don’t leave.” “Why am I not leaving? What is everyone else not leaving?”
6. 6:30 AM. A F.D. SUV - the kind the Captain drives around shows up. ”Alright, if there’s a fire, I’m sticking it out.” “Greg Jao told me about how new buildings have fire proofing between their floors.” “If there’s a real fire, I’ll make it out on my own.”
7. 6:31 AM. WHAT would happen if I were to run down the hall, screaming, knocking pounding on people’s doors saying, “FIRE, FIRE, THIS IS FOR REAL PEOPLE. GET OUT.” “Alright, bad idea, terrible thing to do, I’m evil.”
8. Fire alarm continues to 6:40 AM. Nothing happened. No fire. Just a fire alarm.
9. 6:41 AM. Shoot, I gotta blog about this.
Why I didn’t leave:
1. I’ve grown up with a fire-alarm, boy-cries-wolf mentality. In school, we have fire drills - LOTS of fire drills. But I’ve never been in a building actually on fire.
2. This is a private building. It’s Saturday. It’s 6:20 AM.
3. The FD trucks came. It alarmed me - I thought it could be serious - but I didn’t change my course of action, I just stayed up waiting. Only one FD truck showed up. If more had shown up, maybe more than 4 trucks, I’d probably haul out. At this point…
4. The only way I’d leave is 1) if a firefighter asked me to leave.
5. The other way I’d leave - and probably the fastest way. If I heard other people leaving, if one of my neighbors knocked on my door, or if I heard people running out. I would’ve jetted. I’d be the first person to go. I’d wake my sister up, take our laptops, and get us some early morning breakfast.
+++++
For some reason, I thought about evangelism, Christianity, & “outreach.” Some initial thoughts.
1. Fire alarm = the feeling we get [Christians, non-Christians, whoever], when we see this broken world. It’s the feeling that something is radically wrong at the core. You can’t put your finger on it, you can’t locate it, and you can’t figure out where it comes from. But you feel it in your soul, in your spirit.
2. Fire = sin. But I didn’t go out, cause I wasn’t sure if there really was a fire. Kind of how like people don’t really know the reality of the consequence of sin. Some people, like me, are awake and nervous, and concerned about the whole thing. Some people, like my sister, are so conditioned to it, are so comfortable with where they are - they sleep through it.
3. Fire fighters = “Christians”
4. The need for an invitation to faith. I wouldn’t have left - unless someone with authority [a firefighter], someone who knew a little about what was going on told me AND invited me to leave. They’d have to 1) convince me that this was not a fire drill and there was an actual fire in the building and 2) there was eminent threat if I stayed where I was, 3) you’d have to convince me that I would be led to safety.
5. Why groups of people come to faith at at time. Because making that “leap of faith” is huge. It takes courage, and it takes jumping out without knowing where you’ll land. Especially that first step. Even if a firefighter didn’t tell me to get out, I sure would’ve done so if my neighbors were all running out.
