The Longest, Beastliest Night

Tonight is Winter Solstice, the Longest Night of the year. Indeed, this particular Solstice is the Longest Night EVER.

This makes sense to the Beasts and Magical Beings I live with. They see it is a Dark Time (in many senses) in America. There are many ways that many human "Giants" are suffering. Many are:

Hungry (in a land of plenty).

Homeless (in a land of innumerable buildings).

Jobless (in a "land of opportunity").

None of this makes any sense to the Beasts and Beings. They can see that this land has more than enough for all.

Harsh and unnecessary as these things are, the very 

Darkest Shadow 

in America is this: Innocent people are being 

Killed 

(in a land of "liberty and justice for all").

These deaths are all the more tragic because they are due to something as arbitrary as this:

The (conscious or unconscious) devaluing of others based on something--pigment!--that is literally skin-deep.

You can imagine how they react to that.

Yet Beasts and Beings trust in Nature. One of Nature's surest forces is balance. Nothing is static; the pendulum always swings.

Heat cools. Cold warms.

Darkness lightens.

We are in a time of Darkness. We need not fear--if we follow the Beastly Way.

Which is:

Plunge into the Darkness,

            Plumb its depths,

Embrace the Shadows we meet there.

Ask questions, of ourselves and others:

What have we done? What can we do?

We must see and acknowledge the Truth in the Dark 

so we can find our way to Light.

There is one more Beastly Lesson for us:

On this Longest of Nights, at this Darkest of Times,

The Way will be Shorter, and the Light will be Brighter,

If we go into the Dark together.