O P I N I O N
My Thoughts Exactly
By Brian Chicoine
I was recently listening to a friend talk about how dark the nation – and the world – has become. I couldn’t help but agree with him – it seems that we are living in a very dark place as of late. I do not remember a time when there was so much negativity or darkness as we have now. We rarely see positive stories on the news, and social media is constantly filled with negative stories and the “keyboard warriors” who tend to leave nasty comments.
In fact, in my last article, I wrote about people killing other people simply because they disagreed with what the person said and stood for, (people including Jesus, President Lincoln, President Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr,, Bobby Kennedy, and most recently – Charlie Kirk). Not only do people kill others, they and others celebrate the deaths, (as we have recently seen with Mr. Kirk).
As Yoda said in Star Wars, Episode II, “The shroud of the dark side has fallen.” People in our society kill people for disagreeing with us or people get shot in drive-by shootings, we assault, steal, lie, harass, stalk, traffick people, we perjure, are rude or yell at people because we disagree, disparage others, and commit adultery, among many, many other things. As a society, we can be very self-centered, and place ourselves above everyone and everything, including our families and loved ones, and including God.
But this is not new, in fact bad behavior has happened from the beginning, including the first murder. Darkness has been around since the beginning, and the forces of darkness are always in battle with the forces of light. (It kinda reminds me of the cartoon with the little angel on a person’s shoulder and a little devil on the other shoulder. Both the angel and the devil are trying to get the person to choose their plan). In all seriousness, we have the ability to choose. We were created in God’s image, which, among other things, gives us the ability to choose darkness or light.
But there is good news! I believe in the good news that there is also light (or goodness) in this world, it just isn’t sexy so does not always make the headlines. Yes, there is evil in the world, and we should not ignore it. We should call it out, battle against it, and make sure that people know about it so that we’re not a bunch of “Chicken Little’s” going around in a panic or thinking that everything and everyone is doomed. We have to battle against the pessimistic and fearful mindset that is promoted – and the fearmongering.
Some examples of people shining light include first responders; those who serve in the military; and those who volunteer for anti-hunger, disaster relief, anti-homeless, disease eradication, and other humanitarian causes; child advocacy groups, (such as CASA); hospital volunteers and adopt-a-vet programs; child and teen mentors; and anti-human trafficking organizations. There are also people who help those with physical and developmental limitations, and those who foster children.
There are over 19,500 disaster relief organizations in our country. As far as food insecurity, Feeding America alone has a nationwide network of over 200 food banks and 60,000 meal programs to help fight hunger. Over a quarter of Americans aged 16 and over, (75.7 million people), formally volunteered five billion hours in 2023. This of course does not count random acts of kindness or people paying it forward.
We often read or hear about the bad or dark things, but have to remember that there are many good things, (or people shining light).
And the light always breaks through the dark.
As always, feel free to email your responses to me at mythoughts603@gmail.com.