Another week, another storm and another on the way, but yesterday the sun was shining. The snow was sparkling as if it had been sprinkled with rhinestones, and the trees painted crisp lines on a pristine palette. The sun set at the end of yesterday and today is cloudy, but I know the sun will return.

The news is full of anger, discord and division. A pessimist could conclude our country is in crisis, but I have always been an optimist. Beyond the news, I saw a person who had cleared a neighbour’s driveway and another who had brightened someone’s day with a bowl of soup. Even such seemingly small deeds are rays of sunshine piercing the gloom.

I turned from the angry news to the Olympics going ahead in spite of huge obstacles. I applaud the choice of a snowflake as the Olympic symbol, made up of 91 snowflakes representing the participating countries. Each snowflake, and each person, is unique but together so much stronger.
As I contemplated the past week, I realized that negativity is surrounding us like fog, and I was reminded of two ‘fog’ poems I had written on the same day, some years ago.

Water and earth merge,
Transformed, invisible, gone
Hypnotic silence,
The fog encircles its prey
Dashing hope upon the rocks.

In these troubled times, we need to find a lighthouse and be confident the storm will pass.