November Gratitude Diaries Post #7: Darkness

I'm grateful for the darkness.

www.nationalgeographic.org/media/happy-diwali/ - Tiny lamps called diyas are a traditional symbol of Diwali. Here, girls in eastern India decorate a beach with dozens of diyas. Photograph by Khokarahman, courtesy Wikimedia. CC-BY-SA-4.0

Today in the U.S., we inched forward with record-breaking representation of women and minorities in our midterm elections. Today is also the Hindu holiday of Diwali—a festival of lights—a symbolic victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance. The evening is closing in extra-early here in the Pacific Northwest November, and tonight is the night of a new moon. Sometimes we need the darkest nights to see the stars that are already there, or the fireworks of our own making.

One day the sun admitted,
I am just a shadow.
I wish I could show you
The infinite Incandescence
That had cast my brilliant image!
I wish I could show you,
When you are lonely or in darkness,
The Astonishing Light
Of your own Being!

by ancient Persian poet, Hafiz, 1301-1390