The Thousands

It’s an annoying day when you have to explain to your mum why you have a cigarette lighter in a secret hiding spot between your desk and the wall. Your answer is nervous and stuttered, and you don’t even question why she is looking back there. You try to explain that it is just a lighter and you have an interest in small flames, but she isn’t buying it. You’re black and blue in the face trying to plead your case, then you’re black and blue on the arms when dad finds out.**It all could have been avoided if you had the most primitive of firemaking devices, the flint. A hard, naturally occurring form of mineral quartz, when struck with zeal it will produce sparks. These sparks can be used to ignite tinder, which is a step before kindling.

While the flint is a little more hard work than a lighter or matches, it holds a certain honesty and doesn’t come with the negative connotations of the former. You can’t smoke cigarettes with a flint, you can’t be a user of marijuana, you know what you’re doing with a flint, your mum knows what you’re doing with a flint: you’re lighting fires, honest ones.