I had occasion tonight to think of this line and wondered where it came from. When I Googled it I found several variations, it seems to be from an ancient Chinese proverb.
We've all seen candlelight vigils on television, usually for victims of a disaster. I know the Catholic church lights what they call Vigil Candles. Lighting a candle is a way of extending one's prayer and showing solidarity with the person on whose behalf the prayer is offered.
While I am not Catholic, I do appreciate the thought behind it. A candle is a small, bright, warm light that can pierce the wall of darkness, whether it be night, an emotional darkness, one caused by a power outage, or even in a tunnel during daylight.
I come from a very large family. As of 2003 there were 13 children, 10 girls, 3 boys, 28 grandchildren, 42 great-grandchildren, 1 great-great grandchild, 105 surviving family members from my mother's parents. Since then we have lost and gained, I don't have a current update. The 2003 census doesn't take into account all of the in-laws and extended families through marriage, it would be interesting to find that out sometime but then we would be getting into multiple family geneologies, I think we would need to hire a firm to do that, it would just be too much!
I have relatives I will never know I have. Most of the time I don't even think of that, though I am very family oriented. That doesn't mean that I don't care about them, it is just beyond my scope to keep everybody in mind all the time. I met second cousins in Arkansas over 30 years ago and don't know what is happening in their lives. I may not ever know what happened in their family since then. Some things we just have to accept, if I ever find myself down that way I hope I will be able to find time to look them up and bring myself up to date.
My uncle once said at a reunion, "There are no in-laws in the Michaels' family, only family." I have always believed that, as our family bond is very strong, despite time and distance. The Internet has helped us to keep in touch even more as it progresses, thanks to sites like Facebook. I have better contact with my cousins on Facebook than I do at reunions!
Tonight I am thinking of my cousin's family. My cousin's wife (who is as much a cousin to me as a blood relative), told me tonight her mother is in the hospital awaiting tests to find out what is wrong with her. I sympathize with her and her family and would like to take this time to figuratively light a candle to let her and her family know I am thinking of them and praying for her mother's health.
It doesn't matter if you're family or friend, it doesn't matter if it's a stranger or a friend of a friend, all that does matter is that you think of your fellow man in times of trouble and be supportive of them. If we can't take the time to spare a moment to wish a fellow human being well, than the darkness has won. I would rather light that single candle than to let that happen.
Please think about this and light that candle in your mind, let's make this a better world.
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