The quote in that picture serves as an occasional reminder for me to keep my priorities in order. For many years, I spent a lot of time criticizing things that I disliked instead of figuring out how to take action that would make a positive difference. I’ve since changed that and now, with occasional exceptions, I try to include potential solutions to problems that I see in the world whenever I criticize something.
Standing for something rather than standing against something else makes this easier. For example, if I were to merely oppose darkness, that would keep my focus on the very thing I want to eliminate. I may end up creating an identity for myself around opposition to darkness. That could very well cause me to speak out strongly against darkness while doing everything in my power to keep it around in order to preserve my identity; if darkness were eliminated, what would that do to my sense of self and sense of purpose? I’d be much better off by taking an approach based on adding more light and being careful to avoid making that part of my identity. Then my energy would be spent on figuring out how to take positive action to bring about a desired end, which would make it much more likely that I’d accomplish my goal.
This approach of being proactive rather than reactive also facilitates good communication. If I’m clear about what I want to accomplish, then those with similar intentions can work alongside me and those with different intentions can find something else that resonates better with them. This greatly reduces the chances of misunderstandings or alliances that are based on shared opposition to one thing rather than shared support of something else, which can often be more trouble than they’re worth. Fortunately, these problematic alliances are easy to avoid as there are plenty of candles that we all can light by ourselves every day. And by working together, we can all help fill the world with light, one candle at a time.