The best holiday gift to give: Be the light

Lately the world feels so full of dark and despair, it can be overwhelming.    

            The war in Israel. The war in Ukraine. The poverty. The deaths of dear family and friends. You almost hate to open the newspaper, turn on CNN or sign on to Facebook.

            There’s an old saying that it’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. That’s really all it takes is one candle, one light, to dispel the darkness.

            What if you were the light?

Author Elizabeth Gilbert, who wrote “Eat, Pray, Love” challenged me with that question after I read her article about being stuck on a crosstown bus in New York City during rush hour. It was originally published in O magazine but is making the rounds on Facebook lately and a friend shared it.

She writes about an unpleasant bus trip through clogged traffic in Manhattan where everyone on the bus was cold, tired and grumpy. As the bus approached Seventh Avenue, the bus driver got on the intercom and announced to everyone on board:

“Folks, I know you've had a rough day and you're frustrated. I can't do anything about the weather or traffic, but here's what I can do. As each one of you gets off the bus, I will reach out my hand to you. As you walk by, drop your troubles into the palm of my hand, okay? Don't take your problems home to your families tonight—just leave 'em with me. My route goes right by the Hudson River, and when I drive by there later, I'll open the window and throw your troubles in the water. Sound good?"

Everyone burst out laughing. Was this guy for real?

Yep. At the next stop he opened his hand and waited.

Some of the passengers laughed and a few cried, but everyone dropped an invisible something into the palm of his hand. The bus driver did it at every stop, all the way to the river.

She wrote, “We live in a hard world, my friends. Sometimes it's extra difficult to be a human being. Sometimes you have a bad day. Sometimes you have a bad day that lasts for several years. You struggle and fail. You lose jobs, money, friends, faith, and love. You witness horrible events unfolding in the news, and you become fearful and withdrawn. There are times when everything seems cloaked in darkness. You long for the light but don't know where to find it.”

Right there, pause. You can relate, right? We all can.

And here’s the part that felt like some Great Force lit a pilot light inside me:

“But what if you are the light? What if you're the very agent of illumination that a dark situation begs for?”

The bus driver taught her that. My daughter taught me that.

One day after leaving the grocery store on a busy day rushing home to feed her three kids, my daughter Gabrielle saw a woman kneeling on the ground weeping on a sidewalk behind the store. Was she hurt? Was it a scam? My daughter stopped and asked, “Are you okay?”

The woman told her she was fine. She wasn’t. She didn’t want to talk, but my daughter offered comfort in her words and by her presence. Gabrielle told her, ‘Whatever hard thing you’re going through, it will get better. We’ve all have days like this, but it will get better.’ She stayed with the woman and promised her that life would get better, no matter what she was experiencing.

She stayed until the woman stopped crying. She stayed until the woman was calm, got on her feet and said, “I’m going to be okay.” She stayed long enough to shine her light.

We all have light to share. And shining our light never diminishes our light, it brightens the whole world around us. A dear friend once told me, the sun has always has enough light to go around for everyone. So do we.

“No matter who you are,” Gilbert wrote, “or where you are, or how mundane or tough your situation may seem, I believe you can illuminate your world. In fact, I believe this is the only way the world will ever be illuminated—one bright act of grace at a time, all the way to the river.”

Let’s collectively shine. Every day of Hanukkah, all the days leading up to Christmas and to the end of this year, ask yourself that one, burning question:

What if you were the light?

Then shine.

Just shine.

 #HappyHanukkah #Hanukkah2023 #Christmas2023 #BetheLight