In the Scandinavian countries a girl wearing a crown of candles leads a procession of light-bearing children for this holiday in honor of St. Lucy. Goodness knows the Nordic people need to usher in a little extra light this time of year, but it wouldn’t hurt for all of us to take a moment to honor the ones who carry the light through dark times.
Who do you celebrate as a light bearer?
Perhaps the light bearers in my life are those who pose a problem crucial to our concerns as occupants of this planet and offer possibilities for solutions. This includes environmental, cultural and spiritual concerns. The importance of this to me relates to a mutual concern and discussion of a particular issue but accompanied by thoughts and possibilities of solutions as well as we can discern, even with limited information. By saying this, I deplore the nay sayers or those who continually discuss concerns in a negative way and deny that there may be a solution. I think they are lazy thinkers.
I find it troubling that light is so often associated with positives (hope, insight, divinity, goodness, healing, etc.) while darkness is so often associated with negatives (fear, depression, monsters, evil, etc.). I live far enough north to appreciate the importance of light in this time of year – but also far enough north to appreciate how welcome darkness is in the summer. In an effort to change the harmful effects of a culture that values light over darkness, I’m going to use a different definition of light-bearer.
Many doctors are light-bearers when they stare at my body and objectify it, making comments about whether or not they personally find the results of surgery appealing.