There is at least one thing that rural, small town and big city type people have in common-besides the obvious things like skin and kids and bills and such. Do you want to know what that one thing is? A fire! I have been part of a crowd in rural New Brunswick at 3:00 o’clock in the morning, and I have also been part of a fire-fueled crowd here in Toronto. Fires attract people-wherever they occur!
One time, Sheila and I were out for a walk and we saw some massive, inky black plumes raising into the cloudless blue sky just a block or two from where we were. We decided to put our lunch date on hold and go check out the fire.
As we started our pilgrimage to the fire, many others joined us along the way. One man suggested that it was the rubber factory that was just over on the next block. I immediately prayed that it wasn’t! What a nasty problem that would have been! Finally, we got over onto Cawthra Road. It runs along the railroad tracks, so we had an unobstructed view of the fire a few hundred yards from us, on the other side of the tracks.
The fire was raging. It was so hot that piles of soot and debris rose hundreds of feet into the air before it began its slow, settling descent. By the time ten minutes had passed, we had talked to several groups of people trying to find out about the building. It’s amazing how a good fire builds an instant community of friends and onlookers! There were at least a couple hundred people drinking in the excitement. Many of them were obviously workers from the bakery a few doors down. Their white clothes and hair-nets gave them away!
At one point, we were talking to a couple of men who had grown up in the area and they told me that the building on fire was empty and at least a hundred years old. It went up like a matchbox! Thankfully, no one was in the building and the fire department got the blaze under control before it spread to any nearby buildings.
While we were talking to these two “old timers” we found out quite a bit about the neighbourhood. We found out about the old houses and how this area was all residential at one point. Then we learned about how, in the 50’s, the factories moved into the neighbourhood and bought up many of the homes in order to make way for their massive structures. Most of these companies have long since moved out of the city, but they still leave their old factory buildings behind like hulking corpses of another era. Many of them are now being fixed up into residential lofts and condos.
Interestingly, there was one man, out of all the other families, who refused to sell his house (see the photo). Large sums of money were offered. Lots of pressure was applied. Houses were ripped down and this man’s next door neighbours became a large bakery and a paint factory. It is now, and has been for decades, the only house on the entire block of factories. I had noticed this house before and I wondered why it was there. It didn’t make sense to see this house surrounded by factories. Why would anyone want to live in that kind of setting? Now, it all made sense.
Some people might consider this man’s decision foolish, or stupid. After all, his property value went down, as did his ability to resell. I, on the other hand, think he is a hero. I love to see a person who stands up against the crowd, against the profit, and against the pressure, in order to do what they feel is right. I love people who take a stand on principle. I love people who won’t be pushed around, or seduced into doing something they don’t want to do-especially when it costs them!
In my books there is nothing foolish about knowing what you have and then doing all you can to keep it. I, and every other Christian, could learn a thing or two from the man who owns the only house on Cawthra Road.
