She Sees Us Shining, Too
That much brighter in the darkness
Recently a Harvard professor was on one of my favorite podcasts, Modern Wisdom. His advice to young people trying to discover what to do with their lives was to walk outside before the sun comes up. I read a comment saying something like, that’s terrible advice.
The kid who commented wanted something practical, and I get that. It’s no cakewalk figuring out what to do with your life. But I think he missed the point, and today, I realized why.
I step outside at 4:30 am; the sky is pink with clouds unfurling like a rolling blanket above the glowing cityscape, gray and blue and gold.
Cicadas hum in the trees, the heartbeat of summer; the moon, tsuki, sits overhead, half in shadow, a veil of unknown, half soft and gleaming and held in the mid-summer sky. It’s been too long since I’ve seen the moon, my guide.
The sun begins to rise, and the sky is pink in a different way than dusk — the things that occupy our days have yet to begin; I’m in a semi-dream-state, and that’s reflected in the magic of the sky; I’m fresh, as opposed to tired; my eyes are opening, not closing.
The morning is quiet, empty. I stand there for a while, admiring the moon. I think this is what the professor meant. The walk before the sun comes up is life…
