When Dark Crosses Light

It is a disheartening thing when the darkness of tragedy crosses with the light of our entertainment ephemera.

I was thinking about this unfortunate confluence when I heard that Zack Snyder, director of the upcoming Justice League movie, was stepping away from the project in the wake of his family’s terrible loss, the death of his daughter at age 20 of suicide. No parent wants to outlive their children, especially under such heart-rending circumstances. Snyder had thought going back to work would help him cope but it didn’t. We need to give ourselves time to heal and that applies to wounds both physical and mental. Suddenly, the spectacle of seeing DC’s iconic super heroes teaming up and whether or not the movie will be any good seem trivial in a time of pain and loss. 

 

Art is important. Entertainment has a purpose, to exercise the imagination and our creative gifts. To sing, to act, to dance, to write, to draw, to tell jokes, its these talents that shapes the best of humanity against the worst.

 

Like in Manchester, England. Arianna Grande sang and dance, bringing joy and happiness to thousands of people in attendance. All Salman Abedi could bring was death and destruction in the form of a bomb. Arianna was there to raise the spirits of her fans. Salman Abedi was there to shatter those spirits.

 

It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it? One minute, you’re dancing and singing along, laughing and feeling the happy uplift of the joy of being alive. In a second, that gets destroyed, in a shattering blast. Now there are screams of terror, cries of pain, the bone chilling stillness of the dead.

 

What did Salman Abedi  bring to this world? Nothing but death and destruction. Pathetic! Death and destruction are easy. Any stupid moron can kill, can destroy. But what about building something, of bringing joy to life? Death is easy; life requires more skill, more effort. Life requires art. Life needs art to light our way. Without art, we are lost in the dark, lost with our fear and ignorance. There are too many pathetic losers in this world like Salman Abedi. We have enough darkness.

 

We need more singers and actors and dancers and writers and artists and comedians. It’s hard to remember when the darkness of tragedy crosses with the light of our entertainment. But art is important. Art lights our way.

 

We can always use more light. 

Everyone, be good to one another.