I had been awake for hours and finally rolled out of bed so that I could begin the cat-care tasks of the day.
The first impression was that it was colder than the day before and it immediately gave thought to it being another clear sky.
Suffice to say that this notion accelerated my footsteps and it wasn’t long before the kitties were moved and fed, and yours truly was on his way to the lake, camera in hand and coffee cup within reach.
I know I was just there yesterday, but as I was this early, I decided I wanted to focus solely on the civil twilight that occurs roughly a half hour before sunrise. I didn’t really have an interest in the sunrise itself.
The drive down was solid black. Not a notion of what the skies above me held, although I was quietly confident that they would be clear or mostly clear.
When I hit the lake itself, it was really the first time I saw anything that resembled a horizon and it was a fake horizon caused by lights on the opposite shore.
As I walked closer to the water, there was a splash in front of me … a sizable one and I realized I must have disturbed a resting alligator. I have no idea what size she was, but the volume of the splash made me happy that she was more scared of me than I of her.
The first couple of locations I chose were actually a bust for differing reasons, but as I was so early, I had time to regroup and find a better spot that gave me the view I wanted.
So I hope you like the shots at the end of the blog. And in the meantime, here is a panoramic that you can browse across should you wish.
It was on the drive back home that I began to muse about the whole concept of darkness and the notions we have attached to it.
I mean, I was happily driving into it without thought one way or the other, but some people fear darkness as if it is something to fear.
Firstly, darkness is merely the absence of light … it doesn’t inherently have anything waiting in it (other than perhaps a sleeping alligator).
But why have we coined so many phrases that try to associate good with light and bad with dark?
“Go towards the light” is the ultimate instruction given to those parting from this planet and is a statement of a heaven of some sort.
Evil lurking in dark shadows is the counter-concept that we have been groomed into thinking from vampire movies to the romantic “ghost” movie.
We humor kids (even grown up ones) that can’t sleep in the dark and we leave a nightlight on.
Western movies show the good guys on white horses, wearing white hats, while the villains apparently only purchase their hats and horses at the dark store.
Humor that is delivered with an edgy element is categorized as Dark Humor, while lies told for a “good reason” are White Lies.
Is it any wonder then that historically, good christians were able to see white folk as pure and black folk as having being marked by satan?
No, the truth is, we as humans have mastered a way to categorize life and its elements by coining phrases that appear fact-based, when they are merely a spin.
True evil doesn’t hide in the shadows or lurk in the dark. Sometimes it takes the form of a white man in a white house who tries to convey his lies as being white ones. “I didn’t want to cause panic” lol
Darkness was historically not a human domain. Our eyes and other senses were never intended to do well in a dark environment.
We breached that domain first when we discovered fire and now live effectively a 24-hour existence.
We have encroached on true creatures of the night, and forced our light into their world. We steal their environment and then drown out what is left with artificial light. Is it any wonder so many millions of sea turtles are lost in the confusion?
Darkness is a haven to many in the world. Creatures that happily adjust to the transition where light no longer dominates the proceedings. Bats, owls, possums all thrive in the darkness and for them it is light that brings danger their way.
So, whenever we inherit a fear, suspicion, or dread, we should ask ourselves why?
Are we responding to what someone else would have us believe or do shadows deserve our response to them.
Embrace the darkness … it can be a wonderful source of peace and quiet and might well be just moments away from delivering a beautiful twilight.
… just a thought.
