The school year is coming to an end, and we, the new students, have perfectly completed all the tasks set before us. Our mentor, teacher, hero, and sometime friend, Mr. Jackson taught us woodworking skills, lawn mower repair, welding, and a few things about electricity. . Today was another busy day as we approach the end of the school year as we approach summer vacation.

That was until Bobby self-immolated. The excitement meter rose visibly when someone noticed the smell of burning cotton and meat. Oddly enough, Bobby was completely absorbed in his mission. He was welding something, his arm wrapped around the rebar of the roof, sitting on the top step of a 10-foot step stool that we had been taught had no steps. We had no idea what he was welding.

He continued welding as the right sleeve of his new FFA (Future Farmers of America) jacket caught fire. We talked about it for a few minutes. Should I tell him that or let him figure it out? After some time in a high-level meeting, we decided to tell him. Bobby is on fire. We watched quietly, but no one said anything. These are the moments in your life where having a camera will come in handy.

Suddenly, the whole class started shouting at Bobby. 9 dissonanceth The voices of all the students were flying around, and I couldn't hear a single word that I could understand. Bobby started yelling back, not looking up and focusing all his attention on what he was welding. It's like a muffled scream behind a welding mask, leaving behind a kind of noise that is humorous and has no explanation.

We screamed louder and so did Bobby. Bobby realized the urgency of the situation as he began to smell burning meat. He lifted his welding helmet and began flapping his arms as if he were about to take off. At this moment someone said something about stop drop and roll. Did I mention he was sitting 10 feet from the concrete floor?

As Bobby flapped his burning wings ten feet above us, I remembered the fire extinguisher. We learned all about the tools in the shop. I knew the names of the drill presses and all the hand tools and how to use them. We could all rip up a board, weld a bead, or start a dead lawnmower. But no one taught us how to use a fire extinguisher.

As I was fiddling with a fire extinguisher that appeared to be permanently attached to the block wall, I noticed some instructions. At this point Bobby was fired up, half the class laughed, and I read the instructions for the first time in my life.

At this point, the right sleeve of the FFA jacket is burnt. burnt toast. Bobby realizes that flapping his wings will only make the situation worse and tries to climb down from the ladder. When he steps down the ladder or is in position to take full flight, I pull the pin on the fire extinguisher. I had no idea that the proximity of the fire extinguisher to the fire was an important factor. The fire extinguisher spits out a white cloud of grey-white extinguisher as I cross the store and finally reach Bobby. Now, you could have used less than a full charge of the fire extinguisher…but why would you?

in a class of 9 peoplethAs the boys in the school covered him with fire extinguishers and Bobby lay burnt and dazed on the floor, we made an important discovery. He was using an acetylene torch to weld! He got so excited that he dropped the torch without closing the valve. The only thing burning in that room at that point was directed at two H cylinders filled with oxygen and highly explosive acetylene gas.

If that torch had lit that tank, we would have lost the store, the cafeteria, and the very brain trust of the Class of 1978.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the urgent that we forget the important. If you ignore the important things in favor of the urgent, the important things will become urgent. By then, it's too late.

Does anyone in our culture's hustle and bustle know how much the federal debt is? Maybe we're just so focused on our own departments that we're not seeing what's really important.

Aaron Johnson is a contributor to Yellowhammer News. He is the pastor of Christ Redeemer Church in Guntersville.