“As dark and as bleak as the night” I had to reread that line a few times before I could continue. The more I thought about it, the more it bothered me. Does everyone have such a negative opinion of the night? I couldn’t help but think of the nights I used to spend at the lake house. Back when I was a kid, I would spend nights out on a boat in the middle of the lake just escaping everything around me. One night in particular came to mind, it was the night before I took my first midterm. I was so nervous I couldn’t sleep. So I snuck out and stole my parents boat. I’ll never forget how beautiful it was that night:

The moon reflected in the surface of the lake. It’s brilliant white almost blinding those who looked directly at it. The fullness of it made the moon look even brighter.

Everyone always considers the night to be dark. But that’s not always true. On nights like that one, the moon and stars light up the sky. The stars shine so white they look like snow that will never fall.

Most people know that the longer you sit in a dark room the more your eyes adjust and the easier it is to see. The same can be said for the night sky. It looks dark at first. But the longer you look the more you see.

The closer you look you can see a very dark blue hue in the sky.

Have you ever been deep sea fishing? You know as you get further in the ocean, as the water gets deeper and deeper. And as the water gets deeper, it changes in color. That stunning dark blue that you see when the water gets so deep you lose all hope of ever touching the bottom is the same blue that is reflected in the night sky.

Then on some nights, it’s a solid black. It’s the black you see when you gaze into a void. Where you can’t see the ending, and you have no idea how far the void truly goes. But this particular void is broken up by millions of tiny crystals known as stars.

I aced my midterms the next morning. But could never forget the pure beauty of what I had seen the night before. So the next time someone uses the phrase “as dark and bleak as the night” I want you to think of how misleading this statement truly is. Because the night is beautiful, and bright when you know how to look.