The light that’s in your eyes Reminds me of the skies That shine
above us every day’—so wrote a contemporary lover, out of
God knows what agony, what hope, and what despair. But he
saw the light in the eyes, which is the only light there is in the
world, and honored it and trusted it; and will always be able
to find it; since it is always there, waiting to be found. One
discovers the light in darkness, that is what darkness is for;
but everything in our lives depends on how we bear the light.
It is necessary, while in darkness, to know that there is a light
somewhere, to know that in oneself, waiting to be found,
there is a light. What the light reveals is danger, and what it
demands is faith. Pretend, for example that you were born
in Chicago and have never had the remotest desire to visit
Hong Kong, which is only a name on a map for you; pretend
that some convulsion, sometimes called accident, throws you
into connection with a man or a woman who lives in Hong
Kong; and that you fall in love. Hong Kong will immediately
cease to be a name and become the center of your life. And
you may never know how many people live in Hong Kong.
But you will know that one man or one woman lives there
without whom you cannot live. And this is how our lives
are changed, and this is how we are redeemed..
James Baldwin
Nothing Personal
— James Baldwin
Beauty, truth and elegance 