The "Guiding Light" goes out

"Guiding Light" extinguished – the soap opera that ran for 72 years will end this September. Lest you think that I find value in soap operas or that I look to television for the beacon that will lead me through the darkness - let me straighten you out. I don’t, but within the demise of this show with the thought-provoking title I do find the suggestion of a metaphor. Or is it an analogy?

Here we have a TV show that began as a radio program in 1937. Then in 1952 it moved to TV. It survived a World War, regional skirmishes, boarder battles, police actions; Operation This and That, depressions, recessions, elections, and changes in theology, ecology, technology and now – the light dims and then it goes out.

The "Guiding Light" will most certainly die with out government intervention. How can we as a nation allow the fabled folks of Springfield (the setting for the show) to be terminated? Surely, the Federal Government can bail them out. Maybe we can suggest an amendment to The Stimulus Package that could earmark some funds for this show. I would like to see President Obama replace the show’s producer with someone more in line with what the government expects in this new world order – for the former things are indeed passing away.

I am not so naïve to believe that life is static – without change, but lately the changes are coming fast and ferocious, threatening to consume us and all that we have come to rely on. Newspapers are disappearing; insurance companies and banks – longtime opponents of government regulation are standing in line for public hand-outs. Our government is spending our money at a pace never before seen or imagined. I keep waiting for someone to step up and say “Whoa, slow down there, let’s think about this. Have we looked at all the options and the possible consequences?”

When my kids were younger I tried to teach them to think things through and when presented with a problem to look for options. My friend Mark excels at this exercise. Once when the two of us met at the gym he noticed that he had forgot his tennis shoes (do people still call them that?). That didn’t slow him down; he approached the desk and asked if they had any shoes in the lost and found box.

“What color are they?” The clerk asked.

“What sizes do you have? The color doesn’t matter. I forgot mine and I just need to borrow a pair.”

He wasn’t interested in brand or style – he just wanted something to wear for an hour or two. Then later on he would give the shoes back, presumably no worse for the wear. He was being creative and resourceful.

I think this country has forgotten how to be problem solvers. We no longer wonder why or how we got in the jam we find ourselves in, but instead we throw money at the situation hoping to make it go away. And, if that doesn’t work, well let’s try some more money. Because when it comes to spending someone else’s money our representatives seem to close their eyes and hope for the best as they throw our coins down the bottomless wishing well.

A favorite pastime of mine is to look at the stars in the night sky. I enjoy identifying the constellations. I find that the stars are the brightest on the nights without a moon. The faintest light can guide you through the darkest night. How much darker does it have to get before we see the light?