Solstice 2020: Implore

In the natural world, we know that after December 20, the days will once again start to lengthen.  One day we will notice that it's 5 p.m. and not dark yet. The seed catalogs will arrive in the mail.  The neighbor's crocuses will suddenly appear.  And then, just like the miracle we always expect, spring will be here, and with it the growing strength of the light in our northern hemisphere.

But there are other worlds I inhabit in which the strength and surety of the light's return is far more tenuous. A world where nobody tells the emperor he's naked. Where lies are sold as truth, and there is no longer such a thing as shame.  Where racism is alive. Where a virus is on a rampage. And where the strong risk their lives every hour to care for the vulnerable.

If ever there was a year we need the light to return, it is this one.