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Crowson: Lighting A World That Needs Brightening

I know we’re almost into February, but some of our Christmas lights are still glowing outside out on our deck. They’re a tangle of multi-colored strands—some old-style twinkle lights, mixed in with newer LED lights. They’re big, little and medium in size, every shape and color, all brightening the long nights of winter.

I’m not sure when I’ll take them down. It would be easy enough, and I don’t need a ladder. But they do such an admirable job of perking up the darkness during this bleak season. I feel like letting them shine for a while longer as a counterpoint to all the negativity.  At least, as long as belligerent winter keeps grabbing for our positivity with its tiny, icy hands.

It’s more light that we need these days. It’s good for the soul and warming for the spirit. That long strand of holiday cheer reminds me of something else: the warming radiance in the faces of those long lines of marchers over the weekend. They seemed to glow, for all the world, just like motley strands of Christmas lights.

They were immune to winter. Immune to darkness. Immune to “alternative facts” that our “alt-right” politicians try to cloak over us. Those marchers shone with an un-cloakable energy. There is a force of human compassion, conviction and concern that conman-politicians cannot “alternative fact” out of existence.

They light the world when it most needs brightening. Until the inevitable return of spring.

Richard Crowson is not only a editorial commentator for KMUW. He's also a cartoonist, an artist and a banjo player.