A Candle of Thank You

This is going to be different. Every now and then, I go and reflect on what has been written. I re-read stories, and think how they could have been done differently, or edited better. This time I was reflecting on the many reviews I have been given. Many reviews were powerful, moving, and even humbling. Others were scathing. Even so, they gave me something to think about.

When I started writing Candles, it was in response to a mass shooting, something senseless and hard to fathom. I received both positive and scathing reviews. Those that gave me positive reviews got the message, and those who didn't, I must give them credit as well, pointed out a flaw. Maybe they didn't fully understand why I would write such a piece, but I said it before.

I write these stories to try to make sense of what has happened. Loss of this type is so hard to fathom, understand, or even believe. Some of you who are reading this weren't born to one of the most devasting tragedies in our history, and that was 9/11, where the New York Skyline changed forever. I do not want to get involved with discussing the political reasons why it was done, or who did it. That borders on blame. What we must realize first of all, is that someone felt a HATRED so deep that they involved others to carry out a plan, and people died.

Hatred is an awful feeling to have. It blinds us from love. It destroys. Taking a life out of hatred, does no one honor. It doesn't bring back the loved ones that person may have lost. It doesn't ease the pain of that grief. What it does is perpetuate, fester, and grows into a blackness that is all consuming. Even so, I must honor everyone, and thank everyone for their reviews.

I don't ask for them, but I am humbled when you do review, especially when you mention how much those reviews helped. God sad, "Love thy neighbor as you would love thyself."

It is hard to love "your neighbor" when you are blinded by hate, blinded by rage, and believe that no one else understands your pain. I get that, but I have suffered loss as well. I have suffered loss from suicide, loss from natural causes, though I have not suffered loss from murder. Even so, each loss leaves a hole big enough to drive a truck through. And each life is touched by another. Your pain becomes my pain when it is so profound as to touch many lives at once.

Now we have been under a great pandemic due to COVID-19, a senseless thing that does not discriminate. It is so small, that we cannot imagine that it is real. I have been touched by COVID. A friend that I knew for many years died from COVID, and even though he lived in a different state, he was "my neighbor," my friend. I have chosen not to write about COVID, because something like this was already explored in Batman Comics, if you haven't read it. It is called CONTAGION. It hits close to home. It is a powerful story. It is a story where we wish beyond reason that we are not touched by such a thing, and yet, a member of the Batfamily was, and almost dies.

There are still people out there who think that COVID isn't real, and yet they might be reading comics, and even believe in those comics. I encourage you to read Contagion, then think, when was the last time you said, "Hi," to your neighbor. Did you recently see an ambulance at your neighbor's home, and did not think anything of it? Your neighbor could have been taken to the hospital because they got COVID, and they need you to light a candle for them.

Well, I'm going to finish up by saying, I WRITE a Candle, for everyone. You are my neighbors regardless of the review. And I write this candle for you.

One more word. You are my neighbors, my friends, and my family. Stay safe!