Light in the Darkness

I went to bed last night with a heavy heart.  Our state is beautiful with mountains, lakes, rivers and even the Gulf of Mexico.  It is like most states with wealthy and poor, educated and uneducated but then the stats start to pour in and we are at the bottom or almost of the barrel in such things as infant mortality, obesity, lack of exercise, opiates addiction, education.

We live in the middle of the Bible belt and for the most part (contrary to that rumor about the war on Christianity) the religious right runs the show.  Somehow all that religion has not helped us in the things that are written in red in the Bible, you know like helping the poor, the needy, those who are hungry  or who are different or old.

The whole world knows our political story that has filled front pages for the past week.  So many of us knew in our hearts we had to do something to try and save our state from digressing even more than it has already.  It was such a long shot.  Alabama is as red as it gets in politics, which was not the case when I was growing up.  Doug Jones is quiet, smart and has done wonderful work in battling hate groups here.  He does not broadcast his faith with every word that comes out of his mouth, but instead his actions have shown him true and fair.

I tossed and turned most of the night and finally about 2:00 am I fell asleep.  I dreamed of my dad, an honest, loving, kind man who did his best every day to let his faith show in his actions.  I dreamed he handed me a notebook filled with all the words he use to tell me:  love one another, we are all equal,
treat people the way you want to be treated, don't straddle the fence, stand up for what you believe,
have faith, and always love.  He told me in the dream to read the book, to never forget the words.
I woke up with peace in my heart.

I was in the bathroom getting dressed when I heard Rick shouting, he grabbed me and hugged me and told me we had a miracle, Doug Jones had won.  We both wept tears of joy.  I left for work and when I turned the key in my car, Silver Bells came on the radio, my mom's favorite song and the first time I had heard it this season.  Both my parents believed that The Golden Rule was the way to live your life, it is what they taught me.  I felt as though they both gave me a big hug this morning.

I believe that my state finally did right by its people who live here and our people did right by our state.  For all the negativity that fills the news daily about Alabama, there are good souls here.
People who want their neighbors to be taken care, to lend a hand to those who need it, to not judge others who are different.  People, like me who could not stand the thoughts of a possible child molester representing us in Washington.  We stood together last night and our light shone through the darkness.  I hope that light lasts a long time and I hope it spreads across this country.