Darkness & Light
Open your eyes and let the world in.
Steam rises from my mug, the crisp alpine air drifting slowly through the open patio door, the sound of laughter, paragliders landing in the distance. I type these words on my third full day in Chamonix, France. Today is slow and lovelingly poetic, a reminder that not all things in this world are in shambles, something that might be hard to grasp if you never step away from the media and its surrounding cacophony.
People still laugh, children still play, and strangers can still share that spark of life, that je ne sais quoi, when their eyes meet. Even to me, an American abroad, when America is anything but that shining beacon on the hill.
I came to Chamonix with almost no objectives; only to climb, drink espresso, and eat too many croissants. After three days, I can say “mission accomplished” to those goals at least. What I didn’t know was the hope I would find in the world, in the sound of distant laughter, and in the eyes of strangers I will never meet again.
No matter how much of the world seems to be shrouded in darkness, I know that there is always light.
Open your eyes and let the world in.
”As something, I am merely that thing. As no-thing, I am all things”. - Douglas Harding
