November: A time for remembrance - w(ar)t

This is a composite image of a soldier carrying a flamethrower on his back and projecting a controllable jet of fire.   I came across this statue during my backpacking adventures in Chile.   I recall finding this statue profoundly haunting and confusing.   I recall asking myself:  "why, would anyone want to profile this through public art"?    But then, I began to slowly understand.   

Somehow, this statue prompted me to begin thinking about early humans, and how they must have felt, as they began to better control and manipulate earthly elements like fire.   How they must have felt so incredibly powerful by learning how to control fire to offer light during darkness, to offer warmth during coldness, to offer greater food safety and options through cooking, and to offer greater ingenuity through metallurgy and fabrication.  I wonder how they would feel, however, knowing that generations later we would powerfully control fire to flash onto the skin of other humans, or flush them out of a fortified dug in bunker?   All very confusing and upsetting to see how truly wonderful things like the control of fire can be used in malevolent ways.   

Thankfully, I now understand that the military use of flamethrowers is restricted through the Protocol on Incendiary Weapons - a United Nations treaty.    During this time of remembrance, I believe it is OK to feel confused, and statues like these can help us unpack that confusion.