The Beauty in Darkness

Even in emptiness we are full.

In my 41 years of interstellar travel on this great blue spaceship I’ve never experienced anything quite like what’s happening right now. But I’ve traveled about enough to know that my limited time on this planet is but a sliver of the entire continuum.

But within that brief snapshot I’ve been privileged to see a lot of world events — Cold Wars, real wars, plagues, hurricanes, riots, fires, tornadoes, and recessions. Each one has left its indelible impression on our lives, but nothing like the scars that this one will leave.

And, yet, I find that it’s not all despair, though you wouldn’t know it by looking at your newsfeed. If an alien race much wiser than ourselves were to stop by and judge us by the stuff they saw on the news, they’d be bereft of all hope.

Death, despair, loneliness, sorrow, fear, infighting — these are elements of being human, and we all face them at different times in our lives to varying degrees. Today, we seem to have them in spades. And with all the extra time sheltering in place, it is all there is to talk about.

Despite what is reported on the non-stop news cycle, it doesn’t have to be that grim.

I am buoyed by the beautiful stories I find popping up like flowers between the cracks of a gutter. The stories of love, of connection, of overcoming great odds, of heroes saving the day, sunrises, moonshine, and the inevitable sunset.

The stories are etched into the streets, worn and faded by the rain, but like memories never gone. There are messages of love and togetherness at a time when we’re told to stay as far away as we can. Rainbows grow and spill over, repainting the sidewalk in a panoply of color.

Now more than ever, we need these expressions of hope, these stories. We need to dream.

Fear, yes that is okay. But don’t live in fear.

Don’t be afraid to see the world in a better light, to foretell of a not-so-distant future when things will be better, and you’ll be able to walk comfortably along the Earth. Don’t be afraid to make things up as you go. If ever there was a time in our lives where the power of human invention can help us overcome our circumstances, it is now.

And don’t be afraid to share. The worst thing we can forsake is simple human connection, that necessary component for humans to thrive. Share the stories of love and hope and kindness, of possibility and of wonder. Believe me, they’re out there.

Even as we share this one narrative, we’re experiencing it in our own unique ways. There are stories to tell.

So tell your stories, whatever form they may take — write, draw, paint, sketch, etch them into the sand and send them off on the wind. Wherever they land, they will be home. And never stop dreaming; never stop scheming, for there is beauty even in the darkness.

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