Blog About a Quote

I'm doing this blogging exercise as a practice for Bryan Hutchinson's guest post on The Write Practice. For the exercise we need to pick a quote and blog about it. Here's the quote I picked:

"Only in the darkness can you see the stars." -- Martin Luther King Jr.



The reason I picked that one is because, well, there are a lot of reasons. First off, I just love the quote. I think Martin Luther King Jr. had a lot of great things to say. Secondly, in my current WIP, Cosmo, I always have a quote at the beginning of a chapter. The quote always has something to do with what happens in that chapter, which is difficult a lot of the time. There's a chapter where something truly awful happens--I won't give away what--and this quote is at the beginning of the chapter.

So what does it mean?

Well, one could take it literally and say, "It has to be dark outside for you to go stargazing." And while that's all good and true, I don't think that was what Dr. King was going for when he said this.

To me, this quote means that in your darkest and most awful times, you can find something good. It might not pop up right in front of you, singing a TV jingle, and dancing in a sparkly dress, but you'll find it eventually, and when you do it'll be great.

Here's a chapter excerpt from that particular chapter (don't worry, there aren't any spoilers):

     Celeste hugged me even tighter.
    "I'm so sorry."
    Celeste didn't ask me any questions. She just sat there next to me on my bed for hours while I cried, holding my hand. I got up to blow my nose in the bathroom and when I came back, there was something written on Celeste's hand.

     Only in the darkness can you see the stars.

    "I can't see any stars at the moment," I said quietly. Celeste gave me another hug.
    "Maybe the city lights are blocking them out."
    "I wish they wouldn't."
    "Give it time. Maybe by then you'll see the moon."