Firewalls

Daily Gratitude Year 4- Day 206: Today, I am grateful for firewalls. 

I loved this found image of an old switchboard operator. She was the original "firewall" of modern communication.  She was there to connect and disconnect the community phones. 

What seems archaic now, was very  modern at the time. She knew everyone's business and some more mature village people refused to use the phone for that very reason. Not so different from today, right?

Today, we think of our computers when we hear the word "firewall". A firewall is a a part of a computer system or network that is designed to block unauthorized access while permitting outward communication. They are there for our protections, although, there are times we fuss because they can interfere with desired connections.  Still, we are better with them than without them. 

Another firewall is the the term used in construction to keep fire from coming in or spreading out. Fire is a destructive force.  A building with a firewall is safer. 

The old line "fight fire with fire" was the bold and courageous use a controlled fire to stop the spread of on that is out of control. Scary, but it works. Fire cannot spread where there is nothing to burn. A wall of fire can be a wall of protection. 

My scrapbooking friend Cathy lives in Colorado. She experienced first hand what fire can do.  They, at one point, had to evacuate. They survived, and so did their home. I will never forget her talking about a stone quarry near by that used to be perceived as an eyesore. That very stone quarry became the "firewall" that protected their neighborhood when fires were out of control.  She remarked that she will longer see anything "ugly" in that stone quarry. 

Zechariah, in Old Testament prophesy, at one point has a vision and a message. God says:

And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst." -Zechariah 2:5

When fires of all kinds rage around us, we need firewalls.  We might not always appreciate them, but without them we would be in a whole lot of trouble. 

Today, I am grateful for firewalls.