I can think of no more stirring symbol of man's humanity to man than a fire engine.

Vonnegut’s line elevates an everyday municipal machine into a moral emblem. A fire engine exists for one purpose: to rush toward danger on behalf of strangers, bringing organized help where panic and loss would otherwise prevail. In calling it a “stirring symbol,” he contrasts practical, collective compassion with the abstractions—patriotism, ideology, technological “progress”—that often masquerade as human greatness. The phrase “man’s humanity to man” underscores mutual obligation: civilization is measured less by what it builds for display than by what it mobilizes to save lives. The fire engine becomes a secular icon of solidarity, competence, and altruism in action.