Keeping the Fire Alive: A Reflection on Community, Purpose, and Collective Work
One overcast day in early December, I went to a leaf-clearing workday at a cooperative pool club my family belongs to. Being one of the first to arrive, I was greeted by the workday organizer and another volunteer. Both stood near a raised fire pit with a tall, brick chimney at the center of the pool club grounds. In the fireplace, several thick logs were ablaze, sending out much-appreciated warmth on that nippy morning.
The Importance of Collective Effort
The volunteer told me that one of the first tasks was to clear the fallen branches strewn across the green. He explained that clearing would allow the leaf blowers to work more effectively. I started in one corner of the field, making several trips to the fireplace while balancing piles of logs in my arms. After several rounds, the organizer—a square-faced man with a leaf blower strapped around his torso—approached me. He lowered the power on his blower and said with great insistence, “It will go a lot faster if you use a tarp.” He pointed me toward his pickup truck, which had several garbage bins bulging with bright blue and orange tarps.
After fishing one out, I took it to the spot where I had left off. Spreading it on the ground, I resumed my gathering, this time with a new tool in hand. More volunteers arrived—all white men. Between the options of a handheld rake and a powered leaf blower, most chose the latter. What had been a quiet field now filled with the cumulative roar of several mechanized yard tools.
Firekeeping as a Symbolic Act
When my tarp looked full enough, I hauled it to the fireplace. Another volunteer stood before the fire, sipping coffee from a large Styrofoam cup. In between sips, he fed the dancing flames more branches from a pile I had started on the ground nearby. I asked him whether I should unload my new batch of wood on the raised stone platform around the fireplace or continue dispensing it on the ground. He shrugged and said it was up to me. I piled the logs on the ground and set out for another round of gathering. I continued to be the sole wood gatherer, the only woman, and the only person of color.
By the time I returned, the fire had diminished significantly. Tendrils of smoke rose from the blackened and charcoal-grey logs that held only a few sparkling embers. Small flames licked around the edges of the disintegrating pile, hungry for fresh wood. The same man I had encountered before arrived at the fire when I did. He threw in a few logs and then turned to me and said, “The fire almost went out. It’s your job to keep the fire going.”
Collective Energy and Shared Responsibility
It’s your job to keep the fire going.
I let his words sink in. I went back out with a new sense of urgency. There was a section of the green that several men with leaf blowers were closing in on. I hurried there and laid down my tarp. Quickly and steadily, I collected wood. Bending, gathering, rising, tossing. Bending, gathering, rising, tossing. I kept just ahead of the men flanking one another in a long line across the field. I thought about the importance of both gathering enough wood and returning to the fire in time to keep the blaze going. I sensed I could reach one edge of the field and still get back in time.
I hauled a full tarp back to the fire. It was smaller but not in danger of going out as it had been before. Without asking for directions, I began arranging branches in a square around the flickering flares, and then criss-cross within. The fire grew in intensity, and before long its flames danced high, radiating heat in all directions. The sound of crackling wood rose over the din of leaf blowers now at a far end of the grounds. I lingered and let the fire’s energy spread across my body.
It’s your job to keep the fire going.
Who Are the Firekeepers in Our Communities?
As a facilitator, writer, and singer-songwriter, these words continue to reverberate in my heart and bring another dimension of clarity to the nature of this work. This call to purpose also raises many questions:
Who are the firekeepers in our communities? For me, they include ritual makers, healers, teachers, young people, elders, and artists of all mediums. These are the individuals who tend to our collective spirit, who keep us connected to our roots and the deeper meanings behind our actions. Do we value their work through recognition and just compensation? Too often, the work of community firekeepers is taken for granted, underfunded, or overlooked entirely.
How do we tend to the fire within ourselves, communities, organizations, and networks? We live in a time of great urgency—with growing climate crises and increasing disparities. How do we maintain our inner flame while also responding to the pressures of our current reality? Tending to the fire means finding balance, making space for rest and introspection, and cultivating resilience. It also means acknowledging burnout and recognizing when the flames are dwindling so that we can seek support and community.
Sustaining the Fire for Transformation
In organizational development, network building, or systems change work, what is the fire we need to sustain in order for processes to be transformative and life-giving? The fire represents passion, purpose, and the willingness to stay committed to something larger than ourselves. It’s about nurturing environments that foster creativity, support risk-taking, and allow for authentic connections. It’s about understanding that we each have a role to play, and sometimes that role is simply to keep the flame alive—no matter how challenging the conditions.
A Call to Action: Keeping the Fires Going
It’s your job to keep the fire going. These words have a profound meaning—not just for me, but for all of us committed to meaningful change and community care. Let’s recognize the firekeepers among us, support their work, and keep the flames of transformation burning brightly. Together, we can create spaces where fires continue to warm us, energize us, and inspire the growth we need.
How Can You Be a Firekeeper?
Identify Your Fire: What drives you? What purpose or cause makes you feel most alive? Reflect on how you can sustain your own fire while supporting others.
Value the Firekeepers: In your community, recognize and uplift those who do the work of firekeeping—whether through financial support, advocacy, or by simply offering appreciation.
Tend to Your Fire: Self-care is not selfish. Take time to recharge, to nourish your passions, and to protect your energy. Firekeeping starts within.
Let’s get to work—together, we can keep the fire alive.