The Sun Yet Shines

"The opposite of darkness is not strength, but light"

It’s an emotional week to be an American human. Red, blue, or no color at all, feelings are heightened. People are grieving and celebrating. Even apathy registers on the landscape, leaving gaping sinkholes, because it’s very rare to be truly apathetic—action does not account for feeling. Feelings are always there, whether we act on them or not.

Maybe it’s because I just finished watching The Rings of Power last night (rough timing by the way, I don’t recommend if you’re feeling sensitive), or maybe it’s because I’m picking up on all the feels, but I want to quote this guy:

“The opposite of darkness is not strength, but light”

Yeah, OK, Celebrimbor, but what does that actually mean? Should we walk around with flashlights? Or are you simply reminding us that the sun will always rise? (Sorry to tell you this, but I bet the “Great Deceiver” Sauron could find a way for that not to be the case; he could probably convince the clouds to gather and fool everyone into believing that they chose for it to happen. Just saying.) Sauron is a blonde bad boy who only cares about power. Even though it’s easy to draw some parallels here, the real world is (annoyingly, unfortunately) more complicated and nuanced. This isn’t Middle Earth (and by the goddesses, I hope I don’t eat my words).

Everyone prioritizes in different ways, and yet we’re forced to make huge decisions based on binaries. Yes or no. Red or blue. When one side wins, the other is pretty much doomed to feel wronged, and that the opposing supporters are wrong and have been deceived. I think both sides feel this way. How do we deal with our differences if each of us thinks we’re in the light, and by that I mean in the right? Who decides the correct light to follow and live by? A wise friend, one of my Rings of Power watching buddies, said that her “bullshit barometer” (my words, not hers) is when a leader pretends to have all the answers. “That’s when I know they’re not right for the job. Because none of us has the answers.”

I have friends and family who are afraid for their safety, and considering leaving this country. They’re afraid that darkness is coming. I have friends and family who are incredibly relieved and happy, and feel like the country has just been saved from darkness. I love them all. Maybe I’m too “big picture” Aquarius, too nerdy, too witchy when I quote Rings of Power in saying that “the sun yet shines.” Let’s hold on to that, if we can, because for now, it’s true. Whatever your “sun” is, I believe that it will somehow, paradoxically lead us back to one another—even if that process looks like a hot mess of conflict.