When I was a kid, I was a bit of a pyromaniac. I enjoyed lighting things on fire and watching things burn. I hit the jackpot when I figured out how to burn things with a magnifying glass. I always had candles in my bedroom, and I liked playing with the flame. Whenever there was a campfire, I was usually the person who set things up or kept things going. I have a thing for fire. It's a strong fascination, and it's something that still piques my curiosity from time to time. But I've always used my powers for good; i.e. I didn't intentionally burn things to cause damage and I didn't willfully inflict harm on living things.
But there are at least two reasons why I should be dead. The first is paint thinner. One time, I was experimenting with burning things, and paint thinner was my drug of choice. I would spill some on the ground to see how fast it burned. I would make shapes and watch as the fire spread faster than my eyes could watch it. At some point, I lit the end of a stick on fire, and I wanted it to burn a little while longer so I dipped it in the bottle of paint thinner. This is where I should've died. I'm not sure if there's any fact behind this belief, but I was under the impression that containers of flammable liquid have a tendency to explode when a spark is introduced. Maybe that's a result of watching action movies, or maybe it's true. Either way, when I introduced the flaming stick to the can of paint thinner, it merely lit the top layer of paint thinner on fire, at which point I quickly recognized my near death experience and did my best to put it out. The can was less than half full, and for whatever reason, the flame went out when I blew on it for a little while. I have no idea how the can didn't blow up in my face and light my body on fire, but I'm glad God decided to spare me from my self-inflicted, curiosity-induced, stupidity-fueled experiment.
Another near-death experience involved a candle. A big candle had burned down completely, so my plan was to re-melt it into a new candle. I found an old metal bucket, put the candle pieces in it, and put it on the kitchen stove. In a pretty short amount of time, the wax melted completely, and things seemed to be going well. I used a stick to stir everything, and as part of my pyromania, I got a sudden urge to light the stick on fire. So I put it in the burner flame and it lit. I needed to put it out, so I dipped it in the liquefied wax. This was my first mistake. It turns out melted wax is flammable, so the bucket immediately ignited. It wasn't a big deal, but I was at least mildly afraid because this was all happening on the kitchen stove. My primary objective at this point was to get the bucket outside, and in a moment of clarity, I realized the hot metal would burn my hands, so I used a pot holder. Not a problem. I took the flaming bucket outside and got a jug of water to put out the fire. This was my second mistake. It turns out that when you pour water on a flaming bucket of melted wax, it produces an 8-foot tall ball of fire, similar to a small nuclear explosion. This scared the hell out of me. I had no idea wax was flammable, and I definitely had no idea that burning wax mixed with water creates a fire bomb. Thankfully, God once again spared me from myself, as the flame quickly died down and the water eventually cooled the wax to the point where it was no longer melted.
#psychology