Pondering Darkness

I've been thinking a lot about the darker side of things lately. Since it's timely, I looked up what King had to say on the topic, and found this:

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." MLK jr

I've been trying my best to shine and to love in the face of darkness and hate, but it's hard; especially when I have to do it so much in my day to day at school. What makes it more difficult is that the darkest things in life seem to hide near to the brightest, where it's harder to expose them. They crawl under and around light fixtures just out of sight. They avoid your brilliance, your vigilant flame, all the while feeding off of your warmth.They build relationships with people and groups that seem mutually beneficial, or benign at worst, but they are truly parasitic. They make things that hurt feel normal. They want you to burn out. The more energy you use to fight their illogical, impenetrable void, the faster you fade. The more you flicker, the stronger they grow. It's even harder to ignore them. The more you ignore them, the longer they erode your light and the collective light of your community.

So how do you fight them without becoming them, as King suggests? I think the only way is to find other flickering struggling lights, and shine together. Use love and light, but combine with it the light and love of others. Surround yourself with friends and family that want the world to shine too. Help them by using your love and light to expose the dark things around them and within them, and then be ready for them to do the same for you when your luster is fading. They will amplify your light, but they will also reflect it, which sometimes means that they will discover a dark corner upon your soul. Don't reject them for trying to make you brighter, thank them. Without them you will have to face the darkness on your own, and you will fail.

Shine together.