Little Known Lighthouses 6/7/2020

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

I don’t know when we became a world that feeds on only bad news but here we are.   Seems often the powers that be, or the media, or whoever you get any form of information from seem to think that nothing ever happens worth publicizing unless it induces nausea, venom, fear or some nasty combination of the three. I think we all need to remember, there is still an absolutely amazing amount of good in this world.  Yes, we definitely have problems (understatement of the millennia there) but there are still things out there on the other side of that coin.  There are still things that make us smile and laugh.  There is still love compassion.  There is still plenty of pure unadulterated good.  It may not make the news but I promise that it is still there. And since my blog is about as far from the news as any piece of writing can get, I want to see if I can remind you of some of these things and maybe, just maybe put just a little bit of light in the darkness.  Maybe it will only be the size of a cigarette lighter in a blackened stadium, but even that, the darkness can’t put out.

As I am writing this, almost as if in response to the topic at hand, there is a rainbow outside my window.  A steady rain is falling whilst the sun shines away, seemingly unconcerned about the storm that is apparently not quite finished.  I still hear thunder and part of the sky continues to darken but this arc of color seems unphased.  I know it will be fleeting but it is certainly sending a message.  Even within the storm, right in the midst of it, there bowing across the sky is hopeful and defiant color.  Well stated rainbow.  Well stated.

Similarly, if you’ve ever watched the inky blackness of the darkest part of night gradually blue into the soft glow before dawn then you have seen real beauty.  That tends to be one of the more reliable places to look for authentic beauty, in pieces of God’s creation where people have yet to put their mark.  To see that vast dark velvet, ever so slowly fade from navy, to royal, to cornflower and then to somehow morph into something in the family of gold is nothing short of amazing.   You can feel the world coming back to life. You can hear it in the crescendo of the bird song.  The darkness is melting into light. It is hope made visible. Hmm. Yet again, well stated dawn. Well stated.

I don’t mean to imply that we humans are incapable of good.  We aren’t. We’re actually little flesh vessels full to the brim with potential good.  It’s just a matter of whether or not we go to the effort to realize our potential. It often takes more effort to be a good person than one who is self-involved hence many of us (and I say us because I think we’ve all been there) take the easier route.  But, I daresay one shining example of humanity that would be placed almost entirely in the good category is that one maternal figure in our past (or possibly present if you’re blessed enough) that will always stick in our minds.  If you will, let me bring her to mind.

She may be a mother but often it was something older and wiser like a Granny, a Grandma, Memaw, Nana, Mawmaw or any other collection of monikers.  But we remember her spoiling us.  There will forever be stamped in our brains that aroma that came from her kitchen. It might have been cookies or cakes. It may have been bread.  If you left her kitchen hungry it was your own fault.  Her affection was hugs, secret unknown-to-your-parents treats, and feeding.  She lavished you with dishes that came straight from the heart. Even those that weren’t really the cooking type still often had a penchant for buying you candy or some other goody that was bad for your body but good for your soul.  You’re picturing her now. You’re smelling fragrances that only the enchanted memories of adoration can create.  Reminisce, by all means.  Those ladies are still out there, still wrapping their loved ones in weathered arms and cholesterol.  If ever there was and is good in this world, they are it and all the cool whip and butter dishes full of joy that come with them.  She loved you. She might have to get after you if you got off course, but you could always come back to her. She’d set you straight but make sure you were well loved and well fed back on the straight and narrow.  Love that was firm but unmistakable.  Well played Mawmaw.  Well played.

Then of course, in quiet unassuming streets and nondescript neighborhoods there are countless other examples. In small country towns and in tucked away corners of big cities there are more pinpricks of light. 

There are the young men who helped the elderly gentlemen get his wheelchair bound wife loaded in the car when they saw him struggling. It didn’t matter that the couple and the young men were different shades of melanin.

The young man who went to the animal shelter and asked to adopt the animal that had been there the longest. He came home with an aging cat who was deaf and blind who magically transformed into the spryest of kittens now that he had a home.

Then there is nothing quite like the heart of a child who toddles with his parents into a room full of strangers and feels that the best course of action to take in that situation…is to give everyone a hug.

Don’t let the storms fool you. Don’t let the deepest, most vast darkness discourage you. Rainbows require the rain.  Daybreak comes after the blackest piece of night.  The good is everywhere. In creation it clearly speaks.  In those bright beacons of caring humanity it calls to us. In those loving memories of warm embraces and full plates the message reverberates. Light overcomes darkness. It always has. It always will. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. And if, on a particularly dismal day you start to lose heart, remember the glow of dawn and the heavenly aroma of a pound cake in Granny’s oven.