Darkest Before Dawn

Darkest Before Dawn

Darkest Before Dawn

As I age, I discover much that I missed during my 7-decades. For example, it is difficult to deal with conflicts whether globally, nationally, or locally. I have been a dreamer for much of my life. During the civil rights movement in the 60s, those in the movement all knew that we would change things in America even amid the chaos and killings.

However, I did not connect the dots until now. Saul Alinsky, a radical reformer and community organizer, wrote, "We must believe that it is the darkest before the dawn of a beautiful new world. We will see it when we believe it."

I have wandered in darkness. I have danced with death a couple of times in the past several years. However, you and I need to believe and to move forward regardless of the problems that we face. Merely sitting and complaining means that darkness will continue to envelop us.

Others have observed what I discovered late in my life. Confucius said, "It doesn't matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop." Sir Isaac Newton said, "Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it." Pete Seeger wrote and sang, Quite Early Morning, which sums it all up musically. His song starts with this couplet:

Don't you know it's darkest before the dawn
And it's this thought keeps me moving on...


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Emails Past and PresentA Reflection Upon Our World 11/09/20
Discerning the TruthA Means to Live Life 11/04/20
It Was Four Years AgoAnd What a Difference Four Years Makes 11/02/20
Ginger’s Birthday BashI Hope That She Has Many More 10/30/20
We Are Both Dancers…Ginger and I 10/28/20
The Importance of the Sound of Music…According to Nietzsche and Me 10/26/20
On Deciphering the Truth…By Thinking 10/23/20
The Giving and GettingBoth Parties Benefit 10/21/20
Bunker Time A Prediction 10/14/20
Damned If He Does, and Damned If He Doesn’t. On Being on the Horns of a Dilemma 10/12/20
The Devil Made Me Do It. A Presidential Duet 10/09/20
Amazing Grace Or More of the Same Insanity 10/07/20
My Two Worlds…Affect My Life 10/05/20
Bad KarmaSticks to People 10/02/20
Jainism or the JusticeThe Place of Women in the World 09/28/20
Dealing with RealityIn the Human and Canine World 09/18/20
Masks Matter…To Some 09/16/20
Coming Home to RoostKierkegaard, Mt. Lebanon, Dancing, and My Family 09/04/20
There Is More to Dreaming…Than Just Dreaming 08/07/20
Focusing My Stream of ConsciousnessBy Watching a Movie 08/05/20
Let Me Get This Straight…About the Trump Flu 08/03/20
Ginger and I Have Done the DanceAnd Are Alive 07/22/20
"Give Me a Place to Stand...And I Will Move the World.” 07/20/20
“We See No White-Winged Angels Now…”But We See Little Children 07/01/20
The Morphing Together of a Salt Lamp, Nero, and Cat StevensAn Insight for the Present Day 06/29/20
The Good, the Bad, and the UglyWe Can Do Better 06/26/20
Another of Santayana’s Teaching Moment Maybe We Will Learn This Time 06/24/20
Living in Two Worlds…Part 2The Utopian Time 06/17/20
Living in Two WorldsPart 1 06/15/20
Reflections on My Journey Down the Yellow Brick RoadOur Clocks Are Ticking 06/12/20
An Open-Letter to the WorldTimes They Are a-Changin' 06/05/20
A New Memorial DayDue to the COVID-19 05/25/20
Our Reason for BeingDiscover It 05/18/20
Thinking Outside the Box of COVID-19And How You Will Benefit 05/08/20
The World is Dancing…Dancing with Death 04/24/20
Why I Love Inle LakeTwo Reasons 04/22/20
The Week That WasDance on with Determination 04/20/20
“I Could Stand in the Middle of Fifth Avenue….”You Are Standing on Main Streets in America and Shooting 04/13/20
The Brighter Side of LifeSomewhat Brighter 04/10/20
Plague DoctorThen and Now 04/06/20
Understanding Life as We Live ItSonata Pathétique 04/03/20
An Open Letter to Dr. FauciOne American’s Thank You 04/01/20
Another Miracle Drug…Maybe 03/30/20
Another Teaching MomentAbout Times Past 03/27/20
Regarding Dancing with CoronavirusCampbell’s Five Commandments 03/25/20
Let’s Make a DealThanks to Modafinil 03/23/20
The Cave vs Reality...That is the Question. 03/20/20
A Teaching MomentFor Today and the Future 03/18/20
Trump’s NemesisPresident Obama 03/16/20
I Don’t Like FailingModus Operandi 03/13/20
We Face Two PandemicsBoth Need Immediate Attention 03/11/20
Holy TerrorMy Nom De Guerre 03/04/20
How Playing Scrabble Changed My LifeWho Would Have Thought? 02/28/20
What Drives MeBack Then and Now 02/19/20
The Republican TrinitySessions, Bolton, and Roberts 01/31/20
Theseus and Me A Ball of String or Modafinil 10/02/19
Icarus and Trump On Flying Too Low 09/30/19
Autotelic Vincent, Me, and Modafinil 09/27/19
Plagiarism Sharpie-Gate 09/11/19
It’s All About Legacy “There Ain't No Way To Hide Your Lyin' Eyes” 08/30/19
Starry, Starry Night…. What Do You See? 08/12/19
Trump and White Supremacy The Torch Has Been Passed to a New Generation 08/09/19
Ginger, King of the Mountain Taught Me a Lesson 07/24/19
Quisling Then and Now Repeating History 07/22/19
Ginger’s Vet My Shrink 07/19/19
The Dog Days of Summer Without Air Conditioning 07/17/19
And the Winner Is…. Who Will Get the Nobel Prize for Peace? 07/15/19
In the Game of Life… It’s Like Déjà Vu All Over Again 07/10/19
Another Déjà Vu In the Arts and Philosophy 06/07/19
Cowards Die Many Times Before Their Death... In Rome and In Washington. 06/05/19
Nietzsche and Ginger Übermensch or ÜberGinger 05/27/19
The Climate Change Debate Evolved from the Scopes Monkey Trial 05/24/19
Prometheus, Galileo, and Nietzsche Verses Zeus, God, and Nihilism 05/22/19
Alabama and Abortion… And Sexism 05/20/19
Nietzsche Apparently Read Thoreau But I Have Read Much of Both 05/17/19
Nietzsche, Pathétique, and No Pain, No Gain Part Two of One-Liners 05/15/19
Nietzsche Wanted Two Things in Life: Music and a Dancing God 05/13/19
Purpose of Our Being What’s It All About, Alfie 05/10/19
Pathétique A Way to Live Life 05/03/19
Hanging My Problem on My Lantern Jacob Soboroff 04/15/19
Hanging My Problem on My Lantern Contacting Clarence Page 04/12/19
Hanging My Problem on My Lantern Contacting Rod Stewart 04/10/19
One Moment in Time Carpe Diem 03/04/19
Before Trump’s America And After Trump’s America 03/01/19
NiC and Narcissus There Is a Better Alternative. 02/27/19
Inferiority Complex Womb Envy vs. Penis Envy 02/25/19
Tintern Abbey Viewed by Wordsworth and Turner 02/18/19
The Value of Pain Can Produce Ultimate Bliss 02/04/19
A Very Brief History of Sexism in Science It All Started with a Blinking Neutron Star 02/01/19
Reflections 01/09/19
Krampus, the Bad Santa… Is Coming to Get You 12/21/18
Another Dinner and Date with Ginger On Election Night 11/09/18
Keep Calm And Things Seem to Work Out 10/24/18
The Relevance of Religion In the World 10/15/18
What White Old Men Need to Understand From a White Old Man 10/10/18
Sexism in Society Especially in Washington 10/05/18
Teaching Students And Learning as a Teacher 09/24/18
A Noble Person… Meets Another Noble Person 09/17/18
The Pearl of Death Or the Lesson of Life 09/05/18
Admiral McRaven and St. Francis Two Similar Minds 08/29/18
What Goes Around Comes Around…Again and Again 08/17/18
The Meaning of Being Or Why Am I Here? 08/13/18
Be a Dreamer.... And Never Quit Dreaming. 08/10/18
It Is In Giving That We Get Being Like Bobby 08/03/18
The Ripple Effect… “…Can Sweep Down the Mightiest Walls.” 07/23/18
Eppie… Then and Now 07/20/18
It’s All Begins with Making My Bed— Which Ginger Unmakes 07/13/18
If I fail, If I Fail… I Will While Daring Greatly 07/06/18
Forrester and Jamal Forrester and Jamal You and I 05/11/18
wrinkle in time A Wrinkle in Time Thinking Outside the Box 04/25/18
federick_douglass thumbnail Frederick Douglass A Better Man Than I 04/13/18
heart-part thumbnail My Heart Issues—Part II The One That’s Pumping Blood 03/14/18
holmes-death thumbnail Sherlock Holmes Faces Death The Times They Are Changin’ 03/07/18
emerging-nation thumbnail An Emerging Nation On Its Way to a Developed Nation 02/19/18
another-breakfast thumbnail Another Breakfast with My Shrink Dealing with Dreaming 01/01/18
Death Dance thumbnail Doing the Dance... Fathoming the Unfathomable 12/11/17
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address thumbnail Lincoln's Gettysburg Address... Then and Now 11/20/17
Balfour thumbnail The Balfour Declaration One Explanation for the Mess in the Middle East 11/01/17
Live In The Moment thumbnail Live in the Moment... Plan for the Future 10/20/17
Ginger Santayana thumbnail Ginger and Santayana Remember the Past 10/09/17
Double Axe thumbnail The Double-Axe A Symbol of My Identity 09/15/17
Essay with No Words thumbnail Essay with No Words But Look At My Eyes 08/21/17
Better Angels thumbnail “Better Angels of Our Nature” In America, Mexico, and Burma 08/19/17
Macbeth Hamlet thumbnail Macbeth... Guilt Spills Itself for Fear of Being Spilt 08/02/17
Trinity Oppenheimer thumbnail Oppie The Scientist and the Philosopher 07/17/17
Impeachment thumbnail Impeachment of Trump And the Tower of Babel 06/30/17
Single Player thumbnail My Solution to Healthcare Reform... Single-Payer 06/26/17
What Were You Doing thumbnail What Were You Doing on D-Day? Being What You Might Have Been 06/05/17
Breaking News thumbnail Breaking News from Ginger About Trump Colluding with the Russians and Putin 06/02/17
Frobisher's Quests thumbnail Frobisher’s Quests The Northwest Passage and Gold 05/31/17
Global Warming thumbnail HMS Terror, HMS Erebus, Global Warming… Or Nonsense from Those Godless Chinese Communists 05/26/17
To Become thumbnail To Become… What You Might Have Been 04/28/17
The Help thumbnail The Help Déjá Vu 04/17/17
Bowl of Cherries thumbnail Life Is a Bowl of Cherries Or the Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men 04/14/17
The Efforts of the Lady thumbnail The Efforts of the Lady vs. The Efforts of Donald the Dumb 04/12/17
Chick Magnet thumbnail Chick Magnet And the Hauntings 03/31/17
Shrimp Can Whistle thumbnail Shrimp Can Whistle "I dream things that never were and say, why not." 03/08/17
Invictus thumbnail Invictus Thank You, Mrs. Davis 03/06/17
What Donald the Dumb is Missing in Life? thumbnail What Donald the Dumb is Missing in Life? Eppie 03/01/17
Robert the Bruce thumbnail Robert the Bruce I'll Drink to Him! 02/17/17
How Will I Live to My 100th Birthday? thumbnail How Will I Live to My 100th Birthday? Answer: Ikigai 01/20/17
Step Beyond the Impossible Wall thumbnail Step Beyond the Impossible Wall Learning from the Mongols 12/28/16
Accomplishing Things in Life... thumbnail Accomplishing Things in Life... Even Long Shots 12/16/16
Coping with Butterflies thumbnail Coping with Butterflies Getting Organized 12/07/16
Moh Moh's Email thumbnail Moh Moh's Email Big Dreams Never Run Smooth 12/02/16
The Lady thumbnail The Lady And the Peacock 11/04/16
Sexism and Trump thumbnail Sexism and Trump Religious or Societal 10/26/16
Resurrecting Dashed Dreams thumbnail Resurrecting Dashed Dreams By Continuing to Dream 10/17/16
Why Do I Care? thumbnail Why Do I Care? More to the Point, Why Doesn't Everyone Care? 09/16/16
thumbnail Return to Myanmar Dream Big 09/02/16
The Meaning Behind the Man thumbnail The Meaning Behind the Man The Man of La Mancha 08/29/16
One Great Value of Education... thumbnail One Great Value of Education... Equality 08/22/16
Listening to My Mentors thumbnail Listening to My Mentors And Dreaming Impossible Dreams 08/19/16
The Terrorism Trifecta thumbnail The Terrorism Trifecta Three More Dances with Death 08/12/16
The Kiss thumbnail The Kiss From Life to Death 08/08/16
The Value of Giving Gifts... thumbnail The Value of Giving Gifts... To Young Children 08/01/16
Bobby Kennedy thumbnail Bobby Kennedy Still Reaches Out to Us. 07/29/16
My Love Letters thumbnail My Love Letters They Must Be Written 07/22/16
We Shall Overcome thumbnail We Shall Overcome A Belief Amid Darkness 07/18/16
Dealing with Dreams that Could Have Been... thumbnail Dealing with Dreams that Could Have Been... But Aren't 07/15/16
I Come in a World of Iron... thumbnail "I Come in a World of Iron... To Make a World of Gold." 06/27/16
Bloody Hands and No Backbone thumbnail Bloody Hands and No Backbone What a Legacy 06/20/16
The Angel Spoke... thumbnail The Angel Spoke... And I Listened. 06/10/16
Mr. Turner thumbnail Mr. Turner The Dualism of Feelings 05/06/16
An Anniversary Has Arrived.... thumbnail An Anniversary Has Arrived.... The Fifth Anniversary. 05/02/16
Morphing of the Flu with Polio thumbnail Morphing of the Flu with Polio A Strange Juxtaposition 04/29/16
I am Don Quixote thumbnail I am Don Quixote But I Am Not from La Mancha 04/15/16
Christopher Reeve thumbnail Christopher Reeve Another Dancer Who Could Also Fly 04/08/16
What Drives Me? thumbnail What Drives Me? And the Answer Is.... 03/07/16
On Seeing the Light thumbnail On Seeing the Light Chuck, Paul, and Me 03/04/16
The Art of Beating the Grim Reaper thumbnail The Art of Beating the Grim Reaper Follow Randy Pausch's Example 02/24/16
Grave or No Grave thumbnail Grave or No Grave That is the Question 02/22/16
Best of Times, Worst of Times thumbnail Best of Times, Worst of Times It Is Your Choice; Choose Wisely 02/19/16
I Am Looking for Another Dancer thumbnail I Am Looking for Another Dancer The Ultimate Partner 02/17/16
Buddha's Strange Parable... thumbnail Buddha's Strange Parable... Which We Need to Understand 02/15/16
The Value of Dreaming thumbnail The Value of Dreaming About My List of Dulcineas 02/12/16
Somewhere in Time thumbnail Somewhere in Time The Importance of Memories 02/04/16
The Drinkable Book thumbnail The Drinkable Book I Wish I Had One While in Indochina 02/03/16
Another Dancer thumbnail Another Dancer David Hume 02/01/16
Dreams will come to you.... thumbnail Dreams will come to you.... If You Are True to Your Quest 01/22/16
Miguel Cervantes thumbnail Miguel Cervantes As Don Quixote 01/18/16
"I'm Dying, and I'm Having Fun." Randy Pausch is Correct 01/15/16
The Gift of an Angel thumbnail The Gift of an Angel It is More About My Feelings 01/06/16
Don Quixote and Confucius Told Me thumbnail Don Quixote and Confucius Told Me To Get Off My Arse 12/18/15
Going to Hell in a Handbasket thumbnail Going to Hell in a Handbasket And the Tibetan Mask 12/14/15
Doing the Dance Again thumbnail Doing the Dance Again How to Address Both New Dances 12/11/15
I Know Who I Am... thumbnail I Know Who I Am... And Have Found Two People Who Understand Me 12/04/15
Take Your Passion and Make It Happen thumbnail Take Your Passion and Make It Happen Flashdance Follow-up 11/27/15
Responses to Paris thumbnail Responses to Paris Both Are Vital 11/25/15
What a Feeling thumbnail What a Feeling And It Is a Great Feeling 11/20/15
Pandora Provides Hope... thumbnail Pandora Provides Hope... Don Quixote Provides Determination 11/09/15
Doubling Down... thumbnail Doubling Down... To Make Dreams Come True 10/19/15
It's Confession Time... thumbnail It's Confession Time... And It Isn't Sunday 10/09/15
Squirt's Observations of Her Papa thumbnail Squirt's Observations of Her Papa A Modern Day Eppie's Reflection 10/02/15
The Tulip Pitcher thumbnail The Tulip Pitcher A Picture of Springtime 09/16/15
Songs Can Make the World Go Around... thumbnail Songs Can Make the World Go Around... Peacefully. 09/11/15
The Felt Picture thumbnail The Felt Picture A Picture of Hopefulness 09/09/15
Agnes Majors in the Minors thumbnail Agnes Majors in the Minors A Big Fish in a Drying Up Small Pond 09/04/15
A Man with a Mission... thumbnail A Man with a Mission... Sinking a German U-boat 08/12/15
Dinner with GiGi thumbnail Dinner with GiGi The Socratic Method of an Older Woman 07/17/15
What I Learned About Life... thumbnail What I Learned About Life... From Facing Down the Dragon 06/29/15
The Benefit of Problems thumbnail The Benefit of Problems Or the Only Means to Success 06/08/15
It Has Been Seven Years Since I Fell... thumbnail It Has Been Seven Years Since I Fell... And Cracked My Head 05/18/15
Steve Jobs and Charles Dickens thumbnail Steve Jobs and Charles Dickens How to Avoid the Ghosts 05/08/15
Nepal Then thumbnail Nepal Then And Now 05/03/15
We Get Old Too Soon... thumbnail "We Get Old Too Soon... And Wise Too Late" 04/27/15
How Do We Learn? thumbnail How Do We Learn? The Lessons in Learning 04/13/15
Ode to Joy thumbnail Ode to Joy In the Midst of Pain 03/27/15
Think about the Legacy that You Leave thumbnail Think about the Legacy that You Leave Will Your Relatives Be Proud of You? 03/19/15
Reliving Many Bloody Sundays thumbnail Reliving Many Bloody Sundays Rebirth of the Civil Rights Movement 03/07/15
All Mankind is Divided Into Three Classes... thumbnail "All Mankind is Divided Into Three Classes..." Some Aren't Buried Until They Are Seventy-five 02/23/15
Obama's Golden Opportunity thumbnail Obama's Golden Opportunity On Leaving a Legacy 02/13/15
The Most Dangerous Woman in America thumbnail The Most Dangerous Woman in America Mother Jones and Her Boys 01/16/15
Every child is an artist. thumbnail "Every Child is an Artist." The Question is What Remains in Adulthood? 01/12/15
Ozone to Ferguson thumbnail Ozone to Ferguson A Journey That Never Seems To End 01/05/15
It Was the Best of Times thumbnail It Was the Best of Times It Was the Worst of Times.... 01/01/15
A Hand Is Put Into Theirs... thumbnail A Hand Is Put Into Theirs... And the Hand May Be a Little Child's 12/29/14
Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream thumbnail Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream The Disconnect Between Dreaming and Reality 12/26/14
What Einstein Taught Me About Riding a Bike thumbnail What Einstein Taught Me About Riding a Bike ...Keep Moving 12/22/14
Serendipity... thumbnail Serendipity... Finding Without Looking 12/12/14
Joe Hill Died November 19, 1915 thumbnail Joe Hill Died November 19, 1915 "I Never Died," Says He. 11/19/14
Death is the Best Invention of Life thumbnail Death is the Best Invention of Life Breathing Is Not Living 11/14/14
Seeing When You Think You See... thumbnail Seeing When You Think You See... The Difference is Dazzling. 10/31/14
The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Men... thumbnail "The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Men... Often Go Awry" 10/27/14
A Lesson of Life from Alexander the Great thumbnail A Lesson of Life from Alexander the Great "Each moment free from fear makes a man immortal." 10/17/14
My Dots in Life Get Connected thumbnail My Dots in Life Get Connected With the Singing of Pete Seeger 10/06/14
Nothing is Secure thumbnail Nothing is Secure Which is a Great Blessing 10/03/14
Christopher Robin is Correct... thumbnail Christopher Robin is Correct... However, You Must Believe It Before It Is. 09/29/14
Wolverton Mountain thumbnail Wolverton Mountain The Place Where Dreams Occur 09/26/14
Pushing Oneself... thumbnail Pushing Oneself... What I Learned from T. S. Eliot 09/14/14
It is in Giving that We Get... thumbnail It is in Giving that We Get... Especially in Restaurants in Valparaiso. 09/05/14