lighting a candle

it seems we live in a world beset by darkness. everywhere we look there are forces less than benign. cruelty, malice, anger, hate. in behavior and in nature. and everywhere we find the hallmarks of their presence and the legacies of their message: fear, sorrow, suffering, despair. as black as eternity's abyss.

we see so much of this that we are led to believe this is the state of the world. that our universe always is and always has been and always will be darkness. and in so doing, we are led to believe that there can be nothing else. that our dreams of a different world, our vision of another life, our hopes for something more are only just that: dreams, visions, hopes. of that which is not and has never been and never will be reality.

and so as a result, so many times for so many people in so many places in this world, there comes the acceptance of defeat, and with it the rejection of dreams. and we tell ourselves that whatever it was for which we had wished was just not meant to be. and we resign ourselves to the darkness.

but it does not have to be this way.

you see, the fact that we dream is proof that there is another course. that things can be better than they are. the fact that we can conceive of a universe that is more than this is evidence that it has the prospect of greater possibilities...of things that were meant to be.

and it can be this way.

all it takes is that we hold to our dreams, and make of them our visions, and build upon them our hopes. and thereby allow ourselves to believe that there can be something else.

and then act to make of it reality.

so that it takes fire against the night. so that we may see the world is not black. so that there is light brought into the abyss.

and yes, the darkness is vast. and yes, the darkness is strong. and yes, the darkness is many.

but that is all the more reason we must spark the candle that is life.

singly. individually. personally.

so that there is a beacon in the darkness for all the lost souls out there to find their way into the light and to learn that they are not blind and to ignite the fires of what they see...so that the flames begin to catch, and the fire rises higher, and gives the universe a flame as great and as powerful and as infinite as the glory of all eternity.

one candle at a time.

starting with you.