I'm Dr. Rock and Roll: The Dark and the Light

“Every silver lining has a touch of grey.” – Jerry Garcia

While this is a true statement, most people cannot process nuance and would rather see things as black and white. Most of life has an inherent dichotomy, whether it be happy or sad, black or white, pizza or burgers, the Beatles or the Stones.

I am a man of nuance, and I try to see things from all possible angles. But today, I’m going to examine both sides of one particular coin, and that is the concept of light and dark.

It seems as though this duality is everywhere. It’s become synonymous with good and evil, even though that may not necessarily be fair (after all, I’m not evil just because I have a predilection for black T-shirts. The only reason I’d switch to white is so that the dog hair is less noticeable). Fair or not, the two concepts have been fused in a rather inconvenient alliance. And that is where we begin.

Let’s start with darkness. Numerous sci-fi and horror movies have spoken of an “approaching darkness,” and it fills you with a sense of dread. Those who have succumbed to darkness have been “consumed” by it. The various verbs used to describe it, in addition to those mentioned, are “falling,” “giving in,” “surrendering,” and the list goes on. The pinnacle of Darkness, Satan himself, has never risen beyond the rank of “Prince.” Darkness suffocates. It overwhelms. And people inherently fear it.

Light, on the other hand, is spoken of in terms that you’d expect. Light is associated with creation, with rebirth. The only time you dread the approaching light is if you had a ten-page paper due in the morning, and you waited until last night to start. Light reflects brilliance, an inner goodness. You don’t fall into the light – you ascend to it. In the Bible, the King of Kings proclaimed Himself as The Light. The light is warm. It’s comforting and, most of all, it fills one with a sense of hope.

It isn’t my intention to spend my time in this space pointing out things that are good, versus things that are evil. Heaven knows, there’s enough of that going on in the world right now. But I think we can all agree that there is a darkness in this world, one that grows by the day. Unhappiness abounds. It’s why I don’t read the comments of most Facebook posts. My uncle Dave used to say that at any given time, 37% of people are griping about something, and I’m glad that he didn’t live long enough to realize he’d woefully underestimated that number. Even those that are smug in their self-righteousness about politics, religion, or any other societal creation, never seem to derive any happiness from their position. They are critical and oh, do they accuse. Blame all their difficulties on those with whom they disagree. We’ve adopted an “all-or-nothing” approach to everything, the absolutism of “if you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy.” Families, torn apart. Let’s be honest, Thanksgiving was always an awkward holiday, but now it’s a downright minefield. It’s exhausting, keeping certain family members from each other, or at least away from the alcohol. Friends no longer speak to each other because of who they voted for in the last election. As we isolate from our support systems, the group of casuals with whom we agree on a message board or CNN become a poor surrogate, and a sense of isolation descends upon us. Not unlike darkness.

It has occurred to me that the words "consume" and "create" are rather insightful. Those who tend to drift toward the darkness tend to be the ones who consume the most, whether it be bad news, or binging on whatever creature comforts numb the pain. These people can even consume the energy in a given room, leaving all members of that room depleted. On the other hand, find someone who creates, and you'll find happiness. Artists, writers, even content creators on YouTube, are at their happiest when they're creating something and putting it into the world, regardless of their motivation for doing so. I've long held that my writing has helped me avoid burnout in my profession, but when I started posting content on YouTube, I've experienced a newfound joy.

The light is our only hope. To most of us, we turn to God. There are those that don’t believe, and that is certainly their prerogative, even if I don’t totally understand it. But at the very least, you should believe what He teaches. As society veers away from the tenets consistent with what God teaches, the darkness spreads. We need contracts because people aren’t true to their word. Workers have abused sick days to the point that companies adopt authoritative attendance policies. We no longer believe in the essential goodness of human beings, forcing us to live in some sort of “Lord of the Flies” scenario. The freedom we enjoyed as kids was not a gift I could bestow on my own. We used to be able to insulate ourselves from the darkness, but this is no longer possible. The Internet has infiltrated our lives like a vampire we invited into the house. And it has become so very hard to do the right thing.

When someone passes on, they are told to walk toward the Light. Why do we wait until we’re dying to take such good advice? We don’t form a “bucket list” until our days are numbered, either. Maybe it’s time for us to walk toward the light in our everyday life. Start believing in the goodness of others. Treat others, not like they’re your enemy but your friend. Maybe start simple and realize the other cars in traffic with you are not out to get you. If you want respect, I’ve learned that giving it first is a sure way to get it in return. The light is always there. Never forget that darkness can’t define itself without light – it’s literally defined as the absence of light. And the light pays the darkness no heed; the smallest of matches can extinguish the most oppressive of darkness.