Saturday, October 24, 2026

The Darkest Night

 

I often take pictures of the moon, but I notice that the stars shine brightest on the darkest nights. The beauty of the shining stars above are our compensation for the darkness.

As we go through life we pass through periods of darkness that make us think we will never see the light again. Sorrow can seep through the fiber of our being and inner peace and joy becomes elusive.

Throughout life, we experience an accumulation of loss. We lose loved ones through unavoidable separation whether physical distance because they moved away, or relationship failure, because they moved on. It is hard to let go of the people we love no matter how we lose them.

Losing a loved one to a debilitating terminal illness can cause anticipatory grief. In the case of dementia, ambiguous loss occurs when the person is physically with you, but cognitively challenged. In the darkest hours, we must look for the light shining through and savor those moments. Loving someone “as is” is rewarding in its own way.   

Life isn’t a fairy tale, and happy endings are never guaranteed. The good guys don’t always win, and the bad guys aren’t always punished. Crimes are not always solved. Missing persons may always be missing. The innocent die, and the perpetrators may escape capture.

 We live in a world where we have access to a daily barrage of tragedy. Between social media, podcasts, and multiple news outlets, we have to determine what is real and what is AI, or a made-up conspiracy theory.

When we answer the phone, open an email or text message, or receive a notice on our pc, we have to determine if it’s a legitimate communication. We should always keep in mind that it could be a scammer trying to drain our bank account or steal our identity. The older we get the more vigilant we need to be. Scammers often target older people because they think we are gullible.

The same devices that challenge us can also entertain and bring us close to those who are far away. A phone conversation can lift spirits, a podcast can make us laugh, and an email or text can bring us anticipated good news. The evening news often ends with a human-interest story.

In reality, day always follows night, life goes on and, eventually, we feel the warmth of the sun on our skin, and our world rights itself.

If we were never hungry, we wouldn’t appreciate food. If we were never freezing cold or burning hot, we wouldn’t appreciate electricity. If we never had a crappy job, we wouldn’t appreciate a good one. If we never did without, we would never appreciate abundance. All bad things make us appreciate the good more.

If we never walked in darkness, we would never see the brightest stars.

 Copyright October 2026 by L. S. Fisher

https://earlyonset.blogspot.com


No comments: