Some people work very hard,
But still they never get it right.
Well I’m beginning to see the light.

Dec. 21 was the winter solstice, the shortest and dreariest day. The world seemed a dark, pitiless place where you couldn’t find a glimmer of hope, or even a cheap cup of coffee. Was the the end of days upon us, as the Mayan calendar allegedly predicted?

I woke up today and the world was still here, which made me feel even worse until I remembered this is the second shortest day, that the days grow longer from now to the first day of summer, that I shouldn’t feel bad about feeling bad this time of year.

I remembered that the solstice marks the return of the light, and so what if the fiscal cliff and environmental disaster loom. So what if people are walking around in football jerseys, babbling to themselves or their hidden phones. The doors of perception are opening. Soon we’ll see the light, and the divine plan will be clearer.

And I said, oh shit, maybe we’re better off in the dark.