SOLSC '20 Day Ten: Look to the light

I went searching for writing inspiration in my inbox this morning.  There sat this quote from A Network for Grateful Living:

In the midst of gathering darkness, light becomes more evident.

--Bonnie Bostrom

I am aware of darkness in my daily rounds.  A racist action spurred by COVID-19, trolling in social media posts over the International Day of Women, a loud argument in an aisle at WalMart.  Signs of emotional abuse and exhaustion in people I meet.  Twenty seconds of tv news is enough to convince anyone that the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

I am aware of goodness in my daily rounds.  Children working out problems on their own, colleagues spoiling me with birthday gifts just when I wondered if I made a difference on my campus, drivers being patient and letting people merge, smiles between strangers in a checkout line.  Messages of support in tough times, Scripture shared, a Kindness Tree on our school wall. 

Bostrom's words speak to my optimistic realist self. Those special rays of light are sometimes harder to see when the outlook is sunny.  But during these days of political unrest fueled by fears of pandemic outbreaks, noticing them is essential to our well-being. These acts of goodness are everywhere, if we just pause long enough to see them, acknowledge them, celebrate them as a means to push back at the darkness.