Before the unfortunate incident at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, I already had my own mental image of a church steeple that was somehow affected by heat and light. A Church in my neighbourhood has become a touchy landmark, because I took a selfie in front of it, much to the consternation of someone who probably worked in there. She regarded the practice of taking selfies as disrespectful and was ready to blow a gasket about it, when she saw me.
Meanwhile, the steeple in question is a fixture on the skyline of the area close to the gym where I work out regularly. In my daily practice of taking a selfie as a form of visual diary, I always see it when I emerge after exercising. It is difficult to resist the urge to do as I please in those moments.
Sometimes the steeple looks inflamed in the night sky, probably due to streetlights. On occasion, I was tempted to taste forbidden fruit and when I saw the photo later, I called it “fiery steeple”.
This happened before the Notre Dame incident, and the notion of comparing one steeple to another didn’t cross my mind until I saw my photo’s title, at a later stage.
Sacred buildings and temples should always be treated with respect, obviously. I have no malevolent feelings towards the steeple on the skyline close to where I live. Thinking about the situation does bring to mind the idea that all of us need to co-exist with each other, allowing for various ways of interacting with landmarks, as long as we don’t do anything to damage or desecrate them and what they symbolise.
