Out of the Dark-

When I was a kid, the dark was horrible. Scary. I lived in the mountains and it is friggin' dark in the mountains. You can't always see the moon, and if the sky is not clear, the stars don't help much either. Noises were most definitely wretched creatures on a single mission to find small children to feast on. Shadows, also menacing forces looking to steal me from the safety of my little bed. Fear so paralyzing that if those noises or shadows had been anything real, they would have had little or no fight from me, because I was too scared to even breathe.
As I got older, I got to know a different kind of dark. The dark that exists when all the lights are on and the day is as bright as can be. The dark that would become a place for me to plot the demise of my tormentors, or hide when I was in plain view, a place for me to silently scream. It was in this dark that I discovered that the dark isn't scary at all. I learned that things are scariest when you look at them completely exposed to light. (Ok, so I spent some years brooding, aptly clad in black, wishing like hell that Lestat would come through my bedroom window and ravage me - didn't you?)
Today, however, my dark is beautiful and enchanting, a candy-filled dream land. My elaborate dream world is a place anyone would love to be....if they knew the way. It's peaceful and there is always really great music playing. Sure, I go there sometimes to process some pretty heavy stuff, and sometimes I am still plotting the demise of my tormentors, but most of the time I am daydreaming about lovely, amazing, wonderful things. Sending positive thoughts and energy to the people that I love, and re-energizing my body. My dark is the origin of my light. (Ok, so now I ride the new-age vibe, working my "energy" mojo, still clad mostly in black, and still kind of wishing that whole Lestat thing would happen - don't you?)
My point....complexity of thought, intensity of thought, or commitment to thought, does not make someone dark. Having an edge, and a sassy one at that, does not make someone dark. Darkness is individual. Something that each person has and utilizes in a different way. I'll say it again for the one person that I need to hear me....My dark is the origin of my light. (Get it?)