“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us.”

Charles Dickens. 1859. Yet it could be 2020, the year of the pandemic.

Sometimes we had so much, yet often we had so little. The “season of Light” was obscured by a “season of darkness” - the darkness of the pandemic’s effect.

And now it’s winter.

So many have suffered and are suffering. So many have been caught in the awful darkness.

Yet, the coincidence or irony is that many have made it. It’s up to those people – and I count myself as one of the blessed – one of the lucky ones - to try to be some sort of light for those in need.

I think about Dickens’ words. You just can’t have good without bad. You just can’t have light without darkness.

So… I do everything in my power to light up my life (sorry Debby Boone), and hopefully light up the lives of others.

I go full-out Scandinavian, and put gentle lights in every nook and cranny of my house and on every specimen of flora in my yard I can find. I defy you Winter! I defy you Darkness!

I surround myself with the light of a lamp, a warm fire, a smile, a good deed, and with the bright light of hope, which I make sure to shine on everyone I meet.

Truthfully, like those Scandinavians from the days of yore, it’s the only way I can survive, too. I embrace the darkness, and I use the light to remind me – and hopefully others - of brighter days coming.

The irony of opposites.

And just remember, the same writer who gave us that prescient opening, also gave us this: “There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast.”

Let’s be the light.

More About Pete

Pete Silva is a New England based singer/songwriter, poet, educator, occasional blogger and podcast host. He builds farmer's dry walls and electric train layouts in his spare time. Follow him at www.petesilvamusic.com.