New Challenge Old Challenge - Day 1

I realized I still have a few Ikigai posts in near completion but still in draft form! Yikes! Gotta get those done! However, due to a creative writing class I'm taking, there is a day where we have an 'Invitation' - This day is called "Building a Commitment." And, to be honest, when I thought of what kind of 'commitment' do I need to build, the list of things rolled out in my head like a Santa Claus list of all the naughty and nice children. So, I had to pause - let's start small. Small and build from there. 

My decision is to begin daily writing. Which I have done before (Look back to Nov 2014 or Nov 2022, and you'll find two such attempts before.  That's what I want to do - using my A Writer's Book of Days by Judy Reeves, I would like to write every day. It will be the same in the sense I will pick the day's prompt, set the timer for twenty minutes, and write whatever comes for twenty minutes. It will be different because it's more about creating a practice, honouring a promise, building a commitment. So, the aim is to write a minimum of five times a week, but I cannot skip two days in a row. And, let's see how long I can go with that. After all, if I dream of becoming a writer, I need to write, right? 

To note, I will write what comes. It will start wherever it will start and it will end when the 20-minute timer goes off. At the very least, I will finish the sentence. Maybe along the way, I might be able to write a continuation! We'll see!

So, for today, the prompt is: Write about "the light of lamps and candles". I'll light a candle first, to create this 'sacred space' for this time. 

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

The power just went out. There was a warning alert that came over the phones saying we might have a blackout, but who really thinks that's going to happen? Well, it happened. 

Now what? 

Here's the thing: not only is it just after midnight, but it's also the coldest night of the year so far. Hovering somewhere around -35 Celsius. Not just cold, but bloody cold! It won't be long before the chill starts creeping into this room! No space heater, no hot water bottle, no nothing. Oh, wait ... 

I head to the junk drawer to rummage around in there. All the clinking and rustling when I open the drawer reminds me that I really must clean this out one day soon. I have no clue what's in there - I'm only hoping for one thing. The red flash sends a thrill of success through my thoughts - Red Bird Wooden Matches! Yes! Now to find the candle at the back of some shelf. 

Within a few minutes, I have my feather blanket from my bed, haul it into the living room, and set up my candle on the coffee table in front of me. Not much, but it's something. Besides, who knows how long this might go? 

I strike the match - the pricking of the phosphorus ignites the match; with a whispered whoosh, it creates the teardrop shape and the burn grasps hold of the stick. From there, it is easy to transfer the flame to the candle wick, and instantly, the glow flows into the darkness around me. I sit there for a bit - watching it dance and waver, flicker and strengthen. My imagination wanders ... 

We have it so easy in many ways. Turn the knob and the room heats up, the oven warms up. Flip a switch and lights come on, coffee makers hum into action, dishwashers start. The benefits of electricity are such that we take it all for granted. But, what was it like to live in the days before electricity? I'm sure there have been humans living without electricity for much longer than we have been living with! 

What would my life look like? this room look like? if there was no electricity? Well, I think for starters, there would be a fireplace. My father was a bricklayer and built many fireplaces, but how many homes have one now? Oh, you can't! Air pollution! Global climate problems! Well, if it's life or death, I'll take a fireplace over not! Man, would I love to have one now! 

I look down at the feather blanket - natural fibers. No polyester or synthetics - cotton and feathers. And, as I pause, I can feel my body heat starting to build a lovely cocoon of warmth around me within the blanket shawl. Yes, they had these. I probably could put on some more clothing under, warm longjohns they were called, maybe a toque and scarf. And, the more natural fibers, the better. Now, natural fibers in clothing come with a ridiculous cost. Like electric cars, who can afford them? 

The candle. This is what formed the foundation of their light, I'm sure. In buildings, after the sun went down, to read and write by candlelight. I remember seeing some beautiful lamps in the museum I once visited. The wick area was dark and the glass protector still had a haze of soot on the inside. That item was well-used in its day. I wonder what kind of things it gave light to? A young girl studying her school lessons? A young man writing to his fiance? A mother reading a letter? A father reading the bible? And, I'm sure there were many days that lamp shone over people who were cold and maybe even a bit dejected. Life would not have been easy. But they continued. They came together to help each other.

And yet, we struggle with how horrible our lives are! How miserable and hopeless we feel when we view our lives! FML is an acronym I often see.  This is the life that is so hopeless? I'm sure that our ancestors, in the middle of their misery (which had a lot more ugly than we have!), still had hope. It might have been small, it might have been barely a spark, but I'm sure they felt it. Not every day, but I'm sure it was occasionally there. They still had beautiful days. I wonder what they had that we don't have? 

I think there's lots that they had that we don't have - community, family, resilience, perseverance, faith. A lot of those things we have put aside because they're too 'old fashioned'. We're too 'advanced' for that. We have computers and electricity! We have electric cars! Well, look at what happens when we take away that one small piece. What happens then? 

We're back where our ancestors were, but without those things that kept them going ... maybe now is worse than then. I breathe out; I am starting to see my breath in front of me. Not because of the candle still flickering strongly, but because those other things are gone; those things that gave hope: community, family, resiliance, perseverance, faith. My little candle, the warmth under my blanket, the frosted breath that puffs from me, has reminded me that we really do have things good. The electricity will come again. 

Maybe it's time to find a way to bring back those other things into my life, too. The candle has reminded me of things far more important than electricity. Maybe I should go out and buy an oil lantern tomorrow - a prompt of things more important that our 'modern' times today. A nudge to hope.