Dim your lights

As a kid hanging around the peanut mill, I learned to drive old trucks that would haul peanuts in from the field.  There were often a couple of buttons on the floorboard that you would press with your foot.  One would start the engine.  The other would dim your lights.  

By the time I was legally driving, the starter button had pretty much disappeared.  There were still vehicles that had the “dimmer” button on the floor, which worked pretty good in my opinion.

Today, my vehicle does all the dimming by using multiple light sensors built into the car.  It is probably more accurate than human drivers were back in the day.  Still, I miss the old foot pedal dimmer.  It was a good idea that succumbed to technology.

This past Sunday, Dr. Cory Smith referenced a rather famous sermon given by Dr. Martin Luther King.  Dr. King told a story of when he and his brother were driving to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and they were met by many drivers that would not dim their headlights.  We have all experienced the bright lights directly in our faces as we drive at night.

King’s brother became rather frustrated and wanted to retaliate by not dimming his lights either.  Dr. King recommended against it, saying: “Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe.  And you do that by love”.  

There are some awfully bright lights coming down the highways in our country these days.  People are afraid and nervous.  We are seeing the exercising of executive power that is unprecedented in our country’s history.  

In a country almost evenly divided on the important issues of the day, this results in chaos at an unprecedented level.  Fueled by both right-wing and left-wing social media, the algorithms feed the fire of those who rely on the internet as their primary source of news.  Those bright beams on the highway grow ever brighter.

The lead up to the election and then the post-election results are like road-rage on steroids, leading to divisions amongst even families and friends.  It is no longer a philosophical argument, as we see the disagreements playing out in real time on the most important issues of the day.

I have been a political junkie since 1964, the year Barry Goldwater was defeated by Lyndon Johnson.  I have seen what politicians and government can do in a positive way and I have also seen the seamy underbelly of politics.  These times are different and dangerous.

I agree with Dr. King that love is the antidote to the raging hate that seems to prevail in our political discourse these days.  That is what my faith teaches me.  That is what my own life experiences teach me.  However, I am not optimistic that we are about to embrace love as a solution.

If not, then perhaps we should follow Dr. King’s admonishment to his own brother.  Perhaps we should be the first to dim the lights on the highway we are traveling as a nation.

  We all know it is unlikely for the nation to collectively take that action.  Maybe we should just individually dim our own lights, on the road that we travel alone.  Make the gesture that allows the cycle of hate to break. 

Someone has to tap that old dimmer button on the floorboard first. 

o0o

Dan Ponder can be reached at [email protected]