Some men are impressive soldiers. Some men are impressive lawmakers, politicians, or leaders. Some men write impressive books. Some men create impressive inventions. Some men can can even light impressive fires, and more importantly some men can't. Lighting the camp fire of inspiration, is where those who do, and those who can't --distinguish themselves.

Long ago, on an unlikely Thanksgiving Day camp out, my young brother and I were taught the skills of making a campfire, while being taught a lesson about the kind of men who aren't impressive in any of the endeavors mentioned above. The kind of men who are great and impressive solely, because of their basic goodness. Men, who are the kind we should be remembering on a day of thankfulness. Men who knew how to light a fire.

The year we kids were taught basic fire making, our family celebrated Thanksgiving at Big Bear Lake, in California. The fun stuff, came with the price tag of a very long history lecture before our grandfather would commence.

Lighting a campfire was secondary in his mind, to learning about real men who knew how to light fires of inspiration fueled by imagination. This was his story about one man who wasn't famous, never invented anything, never held an office, just an ordinary man who quietly did big things.

He was a poor school teacher who originally came from France to Philadelphia, when he was only twenty-five years old. At that time, children weren't treated like kids today in the classrooms. Back then, the schoolmaster was emperor of his school. Very often he ruled the schoolroom with an iron fist, in a time when it was commonly believed that children were supposed to be afraid of their teachers.

Grandpere's tale was of Anthony Bénézet.

As a school teacher, he understood the need for children to play and built a playroom for the children of his school. He knew that children learn in lots of different ways, each unique to the individual child.

Anthony Bénézet found the school textbooks of that time lacking, so he wrote his own. He taught beyond what was found in textbooks.

Beyond the classroom, Anthony Bénézet had deep felt compassion for the poor. He also wrote books against slavery and found ways to send these book all over the world. He also spoke out against injustices towards Native Americans.

In Philadelphia, he was a friend to displaced Acadians and even got a house built for housing some of them, along with arranging work, food and clothing. He also spoke out about alcoholism.

When he died, it was said that almost all of Philadelphia came to his funeral. The rich, poor, black and white crowded the streets following the procession. According to my Grandpere, a military General in attendance, said, "I would rather be Anthony Bénézet in that coffin, than General Washington in all his glory."

According to my Grandpere, a man who could light the fires of inspiration are the ones we should remember on Thanksgiving and every day. He exemplified the kind of men who know how to light lasting fires -- the fires of inspiration.

Aside from that, everyone should know some basic life skills, and the ability to light a campfire is one essential one that everyone, not just men, should know how to do. 

Here are some basic instructions that will help build a better campfire:

You can always make a fire by:

• Selecting a dry sheltered pot
• Using only the driest of tinder to start the fire
• Having a good supply of kindling on hand before you strike the match
• Starting with a tiny fire and adding fuel as the flame grows
• Make sure your fire is getting air
• Add fuel sparingly
• Blow lightly on the burning wood (this helps the flame)
• As the fire climbs, place fresh kindling above the flame
• Always use dry dead wood

Tinder is basically anything that consists of dry vegetation, dry grasses, or plant stems, dry bark (especially birch), or dry leaves. Perhaps the most readily available tinder in the wilderness is tiny brittle branchlets from dry, dead limbs of trees.

Twigs, not much thicker than a straw should be broken in lengths of several inches and arranged in a wigwam pile, three to four inches high. the shortest and thinnest in diameter twigs need to be the bottom layer.

Touch your match to them and add kindling as the flames get bigger.

Another method of fire building that works, in lieu of twigs is to select some dry branches the diameter of your finger and shave them halfway through, for most of their length to form a cluster of shavings. Use these shavings in place of twigs to get your fire started. Pile them also in a wigwam form with the curls down, and light them.

All woods to not burn alike, therefore keep in mind when building your camp fire:

• Some wood burns hardly at all
• Others wood burns quickly
• Some types of wood make a hot flame
• Wood that burns slowly, usually make good coals
• Some woods smoke, some don't

Basically, you are limited to whatever is on hand, but if you do have a choice, choose your type of wood wisely. Two key points to remember about wood as a fuel are:

• Hardwoods make a slow burning fire with lasting coals
• Soft woods make a quick, hot fire with coals that will soon be spent

Make sure before you even begin to build your camp fire to have plenty of kindling on hand to keep your fire burning. Your best bets are soft woods, as they make the best kindling because they light easily and burn rapidly.

Also, split wood burns faster than round branches. Remember that branches lying flat on the ground are generally not desirable because they are damp. Select only dead branches off the ground. Most dead branches snap when broken. Live ones bend and are usually not brittle.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that there are tricks to making a fire in wet weather. The key to this is finding enough dry tinder and wood, to get it started. Even wet wood will eventually burn.

In some areas, you can look for dry wood under overhaning rocks, in caves, and on the underside of leaning trees and logs, and even in hollow trees.

Generally, rain doesn't soak a standing dead tree like a live one. Split it open and use it's inside bark. Another technique that works well in wet weather fire building is to cut aways the wet exterior of small dead limbs to get at the dry wood beneath.

Keep in mind that in rainy weather, a fire can still be started with extra materials, such as resinous pitch in pine knots, dried tree stumps, even tiny slivers of pine cones. Additionally, if there are any birch trees around, the loose bark from a live birch tree can be scraped off, as it makes an excellent starter for a fire (contained a resinous oil) that starts easily and burns well.

Additionally, should your matches get wet, remember you can dry them by rotating them rapidly between the palms of your hands.

Obviously, there are other ways to make a campfire, some of them are:

Sun and glass-- Sunlight can be focused on a pile of tinder through the lens of a flashlight, binoculars, telescopic sight, or even a camera. All of these will substitute for a magnifying glass in an emergency.

Flint and steel -- Striking a spark with your pocket knife on a piece of flint, quartz, or pyrite into a pile of tinder is not the easiest way to start a fire, but they are tried and true methods. One hint: Charred bits of cloth catch better than anything else.

Wood friction-- Only choose dry wood to make a fire by friction. Soft gained woods are better than hardwoods. Do not use resinous woods like pine. The best woods for this method include balsa, yucca, elm, and the root of willow trees and cottonwood trees.

One way to tell if you have the right wood for this job, is if the wood makes a fire carbon dust -- you've chosen well. Any wood that gets a coarse gritty powder, you might as well be drowning your fire in water.