I am often overwhelmed by the darkness in the world. I feel its burden weighing on my shoulders as if I could somehow change it all.

As if I could singlehandedly shine a spotlight through its murky center, forcing the darkness to part and flee for fear of my wrath.

The Despair settles in when you realize you can do none of that.

The inky black tendrils wrap their vice-like grip around the earth; choking both the light and the love out of it.

And there you stand, watching the chaos unfurl before you, powerless to stop it. Forced to watch it.

Yet on occasion I realize that within the tiny microchasm of the world that I interact with, if I can make a difference for any one person…If I can lessen their suffering and ease their pain, if I can help them see even a single glimmer of light in the dark times…then I’ve made a difference. I’ve fought the darkness away, even if only for a moment. For it was possibly the very moment it threatened to swallow them whole.

And as I stood between them and the black, sword raised above my head like a cobra poised to strike, I screamed but could not hear it as the tendrils coiled around me. I realized only then that the ravenous night was held at bay not by my fury, but by my kindness.

And it parted like the sea. Present in tall dark columns on either side of us.

But we were in the light.

And we could see.

So don’t give up the fight. I know you’re tired too. I know you feel small. But the world needs you to shine your light. It needs you to fight, to feel. To be.

For the light of many will shine through the darkness, and together, we will cause a rift in the black that cuts so deep, that the sun will shine again.

Copyright: Jennifer K Fuka, 2019

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