So, I've been trying to figure out a way to talk about the issues we've been facing lately as both a nation and as a global species — without actually talking about them. The honest truth is that it's all been said already. We've mourned for the honored dead that have passed and will continue to mourn. We've criticized those that deserve it, we've debated about who else we should criticize and we've argued. Dear God, we've argued. This has been one of the most divisive elections in recent history, and we are hurting for it. But like I said — I wanted to try to talk about these things without directly talking about them. Weird, I know, but hey — it's my article.

Quite simply, The best way I can possibly think of to do this is to compare the attitude that a lot of people have been exhibiting lately to a basic childhood fear — the fear of the dark.

Do you know why children fear the dark? Common sense — a common sense their parents have forgotten. The children know — they know that something horrible waits for them in the dark, even if they do not know what. For it is not monsters or ghosts to fear in the dark, but each other — people. We keep the lights on because light embodies civility, knowledge and awareness. Light allows us to see what's coming and to prepare. But the dark — the dark is uncertainty, ignorance and fear. We can't see in the dark, so we can't know what's coming. So we fear each other, even hate each other — simply because we do not know what is coming. And even when the light burns hot and spreads far in front of us, there are always shadows lurking on the edges and in our minds — the fear of what might happen, should the lights go out.

I've previously talked about how we can't give in to fear, so maybe I am repeating myself a bit. But the fear of the dark, while explainable and justified, is still a child's fear. To be perfectly honest, the most I can say is that I would really, really like to believe that the majority of adults around me still possess the maturity to make their political decisions on more than a pathological impulse as basic as a fear of the dark or the unknown.