An alarming experience

Last week I spent 24 hours in the City of Sheffield.  The stay brought back some memories, as Sheffield was our home for the final 5 years of the 1990s (wow, that seems a long time ago now!)  I was on a work-related conference, and stayed at a local hotel overnight.

In the early hours of the morning, I was jolted awake by a loud noise.  In the short period before I became fully awake, my mind was trying desperately to work out where I was and what was happening!  The room was dark, and it took a while to find the light switch.  I soon realised that the loud noise was the hotel fire alarm.

I quickly slipped on some warm clothing, grabbed one or two things and joined others in making my way to the hotel reception.  There was already a group assembled in the entrance lobby when I arrived; the receptionist on duty looked rather confused by the turn of events.  It was a cold night, and I was pleased that we weren’t made to leave the hotel to make our way to the fire assembly point outside.  Most people didn’t seem overly concerned; some were chatting to fellow guests, others were obviously still half asleep.  There was one “Mr Angry” who marched up to the reception desk and demanded, “What’s going on?”  “The fire alarm is going off,” answered the startled receptionist. (I did wonder why Mr Angry hadn’t already worked that out for himself).

Before long, the fire brigade arrived and, together with the hotel receptionist, some firefighters went in search of the fire.  Some time later they returned, and we were eventually told that the fire alarm had been caused by someone who had decided to light a cigarette in their room.  “Which room?” asked one annoyed guest, but the question went unanswered (probably just as well).

So the little bit of unwelcome excitement came to an end.  We made our way back to our rooms; unfortunately it took me ages to get back to sleep.  I was amused by a letter of apology from the hotel manager which was slipped under the bedroom doors some time before we woke up, in which was written, “I hope it has not affected the enjoyment of your stay with us.”  No, not at all!

Lighting a cigarette in a hotel bedroom is not a wise decision.  At worst it could potentially have caused a fire and the tragedy of loss of life.  In the event, it did adversely affect every other guest in the hotel.  It is a reminder that the choices we make and the actions we take inevitably affect other people.  The selfish way is to put ourselves and our comfort first, ignoring the potential adverse consequences on others. Jesus calls us to a different way, to put others first, and to make choices which are to the benefit of others.  I hope that our cigarette-lighting friend has learnt his/her lesson.  At least the episode made for some interesting conversations over breakfast!