I’ve been working my way through The Road to Wisdom by Dr. Francis Collins and intend to finish it later today. I picked it up after I listened to an interview with Collins that was recommended to me by a close friend. The book has been a joy to read – not because it’s fun, but because Collins does a great job of laying out frameworks and practical steps for how we can light candles in the darkness. More on that in a moment.
Dr. Francis Collins (MD, PhD) is the former head of the National Institutes of Health and the Project Head for the Human Genome Project, a 13-year endeavor that has, ultimately, resulted in the full mapping and sequencing of the human genome. Aside from giving us pure knowledge about human biology and DNA, the Project led to advancements in diagnosing, treating, and preventing diseases, like cancer.
I won’t get into everything that Collins talks about in the book in this post. Suffice it to say that the book’s subtitle is: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust. What I will lean into, however, is one of the central messages of the book and, perhaps my greatest personal takeaway from his writing:
What can any of us do to light a candle in the darkness?
The world is hard right now, and it’s been hard for a while. If you’re an educator, you might be thinking of the seemingly longer weeks that March and April somehow bring with them each year. If you’re a social media scroller, you’re undoubtedly inundated with targeted negative messaging. If you’re going through a hard time, it can be hard to see the good in anything. I could provide more examples, but I won’t.
Instead, I want to encourage you to think about what you can do to light a candle in the darkness. Maybe it’s offering a child a fist bump and a warm smile as they enter your classroom this morning. Perhaps it’s stopping by a colleague’s room or office to check in on that hard time they’ve been going through. It can be an overdue call to a friend just to let them know you’re thinking about them. Who knows, maybe it’s having the courage and humility to admit that you’ve been wrong about something. It could even be slowing down just enough to ask the person who’s habitually late to work, “Is everything okay?”
These thoughts aren’t new. William Watkinson wrote, “It’s better to light a candle than to curse in the darkness,” and The Buddha’s wisdom reminds us that “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle.” Just imagine what might happen if we find the courage to light one single candle.
While I don’t have the answer to that question for everyone reading this, what I do know is that we, collectively, have the answer. As leaders, it’s our responsibility to model what we hope to see in others. If we want greatness, we should pursue greatness. If we want goodness, we should show goodness. If we want light, we should offer light.
#ChooseToBeGreat
Angelo
CHOOSE TO BE GREAT 