In the dark

I’ve noticed how the mind controls the heart and how limitless perceptions can be if we just allow our thoughts freedom.

After dark, the imagination is fed by the fear of darkness. But as God gave us light, He also allowed darkness to separate night from day.  The indigo of night is beautiful but the darkness of one’s heart is the source of all horror.

Perhaps my late nights have given me more opportunities to see the other parts of God’s creation. Like the different shapes shadows can be. Akin to the clouds of day, shadows form into numerous illusions, animals, looming forms of characters associated with mystery and the occult. But the “tikbalang” is after all a dog trotting before the light of an approaching motorcycle. And yes, the coordination of its paws amaze me. As human beings sometimes find it hard to balance on twos, it is hard not to wonder how animals in their fours don’t tangle their legs in their cadence.

A stomp I pass by underneath a bent tree looks like a crouched animal in the dark and one just has to use his imagination to appreciate or scare oneself. I opt to appreciate. I have often mistaken a rock for a cat. Or a falling leaf for a bat, or a passing beam that hits a tin can for the eyes of a rat. Horrid and funny. Again the choice remains.

In the dark, light is defined. Like in life. When we are caught in a dark spot or are encased in a seemingly tough situation, shining moments appear when one does not allow the self to be overcome by misery.

Life lived is a matter of attitude. With all the deaths in the news, the threats of economic depression, the looming reality of impending calamities and the unpreparedness of our youth to take over our generation, the future sounds bleak. Still with strength in character and a spirit anchored on what is real and true and hoped for, we can teach our youth where to get their strength, how to sustain it.

It is important to think as well on how to pass it on. How does our perspective affect our young?  For as God turns night into day and day into night, the choice remains for us to enjoy the ambivalence of time or to sit in harried anticipation of doom.