Editorial: Light in the darkest of days
Matt Unrau
Last week was a dark week for Western Montana. Like the numerous clouds of fog that dotted our valleys the events of last week literally took the wind out of many of us.
The week started out with horrible news that the Frenchtown mill would close and 417 workers would be out of a job at the start of the new year. This felt like a punch in the gut for the logging industry that was already struggling in the last couple years.
After a week of economic worry, the beloved Montana Grizzlies who could’ve lifted our spirits then came up angonizingly short in the FCS Championship game. The win could have served as a great distraction for a town and region that desperately needed something to cheer about it.
With no coincidence it would also serve as the darkest week of the year.
Thinking about all of this I drove to Hot Springs on an especially dark Saturday night for their Winter Solstice Celebration. Monday is the shortest day of the year and on Saturday Hot Springs wanted to celebrate the changing seasons.
As I pulled up to Hot Springs City Park volunteers were lighting up hundreds of candles in a circular maze-like pattern. What I soon learned was that the idea of the labyrinth was to walk around in continually smaller circles until you arrived at the center of the circle and then you could take a quite moment and think about whatever you like, your blessings, your dreams, your past or whatever you like.
After snapping quite a few pictures I began asking people what they thought about when they made it to the middle of the circle. I got a lot of different answers, but when a person asked me what I thought about, I hadn’t made it through the labyrinth and didn’t have an answer. But now I do have an answer.
I thought about light in the darkness. If any of you have seen Will Smith in “I am Legend” there is a part where Will talks about never taking a day off trying to make the world better, because the people that are trying to make it worse are not taking any days off. He finishes this by saying “light up the darkness.”
That’s what I thought of when I saw all those candles lighting up that little park. That and the fact that the shortest day is past us and the sun will shine longer and longer. In one small way the night is almost over and the day is almost here.
This is hope. And hope is something we can still hold onto. Western Montana will survive the closing of the Frenchtown Mill and the Grizzlies will come back with a vengeance next year.
In short the night is almost over and the day will soon come with the sun shining strong. That’s what I thought about it in the circle of lighted candles.