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Recently, I had an opportunity to watch an amazing spectacle of fireworks, at Navy Pier in Chicago. There were large number of people around who were cheering. There were also many who ignored what they were upto and stood to look back at this lighting of the dark sky with glorious work of the artists who created imageries of fun, life and excitement against the backdrop of a dark sky. Fireworks not only look good, they also leave an exciting and high-energy hangover. Life suddenly started experiencing better. It created a child like excitement and left a nice after-taste of life.
Two days later, I was looking at the same sky in the morning and these thoughts came back to me. I started wondering about the sky and the fireworks that I experienced the other day. It kind of made me wonder if life was throwing a lesson at me.
I was wondering if the fireworks will look nice if it was made during day time, when the sky is properly back lit and the world around is bright and clear. If not, then is the beauty in the ‘fireworks’ or patterns it creates or is it in the darkness of sky? I shall like you to consider this question and reflect back on your lives, if there is a lesson hidden in it.
If you recollect viewing fireworks, it definitely is beautiful because of a dark background of the sky. Otherwise it will not be nearly visible, we may not be able to see colours and patterns. That is the obvious part.
Let us try and look at one layer deeper. There is a space between two firecracker and there is a difference in patterns that it throws up. This space between two firecrackers is filled with darkness. Is this not why we are able to see the sparkles clearly and is it not because of different patterns, one after another that this fireworks looks good? The answer is yes, it is the interspersed darkness that provides beauty to the fireworks. So darkness is important to see and realise the beauty. If we take a step further, imagine all the firecrackers were making same pattern, that will also take the excitement out of watching fireworks with childlike excitement. Therefore, possibly it is the dark spots in our life and changing events and patterns, that do not conform to our wishes and desires that make us appreciate the pleasures of life.
I have had a reasonably good life. I lived with some principles and values, authenticity and truthfulness that has given me strength to go through some pretty tough times in life. I was so focused on ‘living in the moment’ and ‘driven by values’ that I may have ignored many other important things in life. I may have rubbed many people on the wrong side, unintentionally. Was I missing the ‘dark sky space’ to appreciate sparkles of life? I am not making any complaints. I am trying to paint a context, to appreciate dilemma of life.
Let us come back to the fireworks to understand the dilemma. I am sure all of you have some similar stories in your lives. Did I focus too much on the interspersed ‘darkness’ or too much on the ‘sparkles’ of same pattern? Did I care enough to see if other patterns were missing or someone was making those patterns but I was too immersed in my ‘own space’ to figure that out? Let me use an example to illustrate my point. We all say and feel we love our children, possibly most parent do. Parents also go an extra mile to do things for their children. But is that enough? Does that necessarily make them happy? Do we pause and ask them what is that they expect from us? What is that we could do that will leave a lasting picture of love and caring at home? I have seen most parent complain that once the kids grow, their affection for ‘home’ goes down. Did we do enough to create ‘home’ for them, an attraction for ‘home’, or a home is reduced to a physical space where parents live? Is it fair to blame children, while we spend our lives lost in our own ‘dark sky’ or ‘patterns of sparkles’ and missing on LIFE? We possibly take too many things in life for granted, including dark sky and patterns of firecrackers. I am sure you love your children, but don’t take them for granted. They will leave one day to make their own lives, that is actually much sooner than you realise. Live it with them, for them – make ‘home’ an attractive place to come back to. Are you kindling right sparkles and living it today? Live it today. It never comes back. The lull of post-fireworks sets in much sooner than you think.
I realise I was possibly, too lost in my own ‘dark spaces’ to find sparkles, while they were all around me and I could not see them – fireworks during day time. Wish I could go back in time and relive those moments, when sparkles of life were all around me, while I was possibly messed up in creating sparkles. Wish saying sorry could help.
Live it now – sparkles are all around us, don’t brood too much on dark spaces, find different patterns, to give wings to your pleasures of life.