“Be the lighthouse in
the sea of darkness.” 
Unknown

I am a firm believer in the overwhelming good which exists in our world today, yet, like you, I am well aware of some of the somber darkness with which many of us struggle. If we take a quick look back at human history, we’ll likely find that every generation has had to cope with similar feelings of fear and gloom, though for different reasons. Life is not always easy, but the world is always basically good.

When I began my 31-year career at Saint Lawrence in Santa Clara, California, my office, which had been a storage room for many years, had no furniture. Through the kindness of an office furniture company with whom I had previously done business, I acquired a magnificent desk and chair, along with two simple chairs for visitors. The office walls, two of which had been newly wood-paneled, were blank. I went to a store owned by the parents of one of my former students who provided four beautifully-framed prints — two were of sunsets and two were of lighthouses. I didn’t really have any particular reason for the lighthouse prints, but apparently, people who visited my office noticed them.

At Christmas time, my secretary gifted me a bottle of Old Spice after-shave in a bottle the shape of a lighthouse. I used it as a paperweight on my desk for 30 years. The following summer, one of the women who worked in the Saint Lawrence Extended Care Center returned home from a vacation in Hawaii with a clear paperweight engraved with a lighthouse. She told me that when she saw it in Maui, she thought of me. This was just the beginning.

Over the next 30 years, I ended up with dozens of ceramic lighthouse figurines, lighthouse calendars, lighthouse keychains, and assorted other lighthouse-themed gifts. It was clear to me that people definitely believed that I was an avid collector of lighthouses. Well, by then, I guess I was, though it was never my intention to do so.

Through the years, I’ve come to embrace the lighthouse as a symbol of hope and inspiration. This is precisely why I chose the name A Beacon of Light for this blog, and adopted the lighthouse logo shown above for use on this blog and on my business cards.

I have my down-days like anyone else, but, for the most part, I try to stay upbeat and positive in both my writing and my interaction with others in my life. Difficult as it may be from time to time, I prefer to see the cup as half-full. I believe in the goodness of people. I believe that the best days of my life have not happened yet. I believe that the stresses and concerns of today will pass in time, though I expect that they will be replaced by new stresses and concerns. That seems to be how life works. 

As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts and in my books, there are only two things in life over which we have complete control: our own effort and our own attitude. For this reason, I write with the hope of nurturing positivity in the world. I want to be that beacon of light for those who need a bit of inspiration to help them navigate the choppy waters of our world today with grace, confidence, and gratitude.