258 candles-day 11

I've been wracking my brain trying to think of what I can say that will mean anything to anyone about the current dismal, distressing state of politics in this country. And I've come to realize this: There isn't anything I can say. But there is something I can do.

My solution, based on the Chinese proverb that it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, is to provide daily candles in the form of links to other people's solutions, simple or complex responses to problems that they see. But as a single candle will hardly provide enough illumination to blot out the darkness that is the pettiness and meanness that characterizes this election cycle, I will light 258 candles, one each day between now and election day. In this way, I will do my part to remind each of us we are better than the baseness of the bases.

Today: This is my online friend Tamara, a fellow member of the Rainbow Tribe. For the past several years she has posted photos like this one on the Rainbow Family of Living Light Facebook page on an irregular schedule: sometimes daily, sometimes every few weeks, sometimes a month will go by before we see another picture from her. They are all the same, Tamara somewhere, flashing the peace sign. It's very simple, almost simplistic, but I can't tell you how much it means to me to see a message from her showing her infectious grin and her peace sign. Hers is another example of how great a simple, outside-yourself action can be.