Carry the Fire

A Lesson from Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"

(the above image is from the Art of Manliness podcast…I recommend listening to this episode if you’ve read the book)

“I want to be with you.  

You cant.

Please.

You cant. You have to carry the fire.

I don’t know how to. Yes you do.

Is it real? The fire?

Yes it is. 

Where is it? I don’t know where it is.

Yes you do. It’s inside you. It was always there.

I can see it.”

-The Road, Cormac McCarthy

Growing up, I loved to read. I started with Goosebumps, moved on to Harry Potter when they started coming out and eventually fell in love with a few of my favorites: The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Lord of the Flies. My Dad also gave me a few books in my teenage years, but the most important one is what we are discussing today, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.

“The Road has been called a love story between father and son, and nothing could better describe it. The book powerfully puts the beauty and sorrow of fatherhood in stark perspective, revealing paternal love intensely close to the bone”(Art of Manliness, 2016).

If that description peaks your interest, I encourage you to pick-up the book. It is not a particularly long read, but it is difficult to put down once you’ve started it and will always…linger. I listen to The Art of Manliness podcast every week and even though I am referencing an older episode, it was reposted to honor Cormac McCarthy, who just passed away on June 13th a month before his 90th birthday.

There are many lessons that can be taken from The Road, but the concept of Carrying the Fire is what I’d like to focus on. It has been the subject of thorough analysis and I would also encourage you to read how others person its meaning. Here is what it means to me.

Trying to strike the balance between optimism and pragmatism is simple to define, but more challenging to actually live. It requires a disposition of “it might not be OK right now, but eventually it will be.” Still, it requires effort. Some seasons of life are just harder than others, but eventually the darkness will subside and light will shine through.

So what is this fire and how do you carry it? The fire is the desire to consciously make an effort each day to live your values. It isn’t an external symbol like the S on Superman’s chest, it is instead expressed through your actions and how you treat others. If every interaction that you have throughout the day is an opportunity for you to pour more kindness into the world, do you cherish that?

How do you nurture the relationships of those that are most important to you? What impression do you leave others with when you leave the room? If today were your last day on Earth, how would you spend it? Even if today is not your last day, we aren’t promised more time than what we have in front of us at this present moment. But do we live that way?

Your fire may not be evident to others when it has been extinguished or isn’t burning as brightly, but we all know when we feel off and haven’t been ourselves lately. So here is my challenge to you, consider the phrase Carry the Fire and how you interpret it. What is the fire and how do you carry it each and every day? Better yet, when it isn’t burning brightly, how do you restore its vibrance?

(As a final administrative note, I’m going to drop to 2x posts per month beginning in July to devote more time to each individual post, versus sometimes rushing to get them out to meet the goal of 1x per week!)

Be Well,

Mike