Remember the Light

Frank Bencomo
Class of 2018

By Frank Bencomo-Suarez, Class of 2018

“One candle can light the darkest of caves. The darkness of the entire universe cannot extinguish a single candle.”

In the world of social media and the 24/7 media broadcast we have become accustomed to bad news. I challenge you to sit in front of a television set today for a few hours, turn on any major news station, and not walk away feeling worse about the state of the world in general. Man beats wife, college campus rape cases, and the reign of isis, enough to put a damper on anyone’s mood. Still, look at the facts and you’ll quickly see that the message the news stations give you isn’t the full picture. Between 1950 and 2011 the average global life expectancy went up from 47 to 70. The percentage amount of human beings caught in wars is lower than it has ever been. People are getting more representation than they ever have, with democracies going from just a few to over 60% of the world's governments. More states promote racial equality than ever. More countries are choosing to not persecute homosexuals simply for who they are.

Everyone wants to think of the people like Kim Davis who remind us of the past, but I dare you to remember the light and look towards the future. The future is before us. Shown to use by good humans who have decided to not allow this discrimination to further occur. Do not let the bigots like Kim Davis and Donald Trump darken your perspective of the world. Both have been widely panned in an indication of a world no longer accepting of this hate. All of Kim Davis’ appeals have been rejected and Donald Trump has been removed from most of his own business deals.

Let us focus on the advancements we’ve made. That will lend us the belief and strength to conquer anything we wish to change in our world. In my own city of Louisville we recently

saw hundreds of people show up to a defaced mosque to repaint it and cover the vandalization. The acts of a few do not weigh greater than the actions of the many. A city stood up and showed to the criminals who did those things and said that they would not allow fear and hatred to define Louisville. That is something which should give us all immense pride.

Everyone points to the discussions taking place all the time on topics such as war, poverty, and disease as signs that the world is going to hell. I challenge you to think differently. Don’t let the actions of the few be what define your waking hours. We’ve learned to focus on the bad. We linger on the jerk that cut us off instead of the people who love us dearly and those who’ve helped us get this far. There is an incredible amount of generosity and kindness in the world. The simple fact that we decide to cooperate in societies and not simply take what we want is proof of this. Sure there will always be those who choose to not follow the rules, but taken under the scope of humanity, those people are few and far between.

The future starts now, with all of us. I choose not to view the coming days as dystopian, but instead I look to the future with hope. I see a brilliant sunrise on the horizon. Call me naive. Say that I am a dreamer. Many men and women have gambled in the history of the world on a great deal of things. I am prepared to double down on humanity. I believe that people are for the most part good and compassionate. I do not believe that we will annihilate ourselves from the earth. I see proof of my statement in that even during the cold war when false alarms were given that either the Soviet Union or the United States had fired nukes, the people of the opposite nations refused to fire and destroy the world even believing that they may perish. I believe in all of us. I believe that we are advancing in terms of our awareness and I believe that so long as there is one candle in the dark cave the light will counter the darkness. Do not believe the hype of 24/7 media. The end is not nigh. We are moving forward.

Frank Bencomo-Suarez, of Louisville, Ky., is a sophomore McConnell Scholar studying physics and political science at the University of Louisville.