It is National Lighthouse Day. People are fascinated by lighthouses. Lighthouse memorabilia is one of the most popular and highly collected. Their singular purpose, to guide seafarers to safety, has been used throughout history because so very many parallels can be drawn.
I write this with a bit of a smirk, because just last week I wrote this in my WIP (work in progress) . . .
"The photograph she gripped in her hand had become a lighthouse, guiding her memories across the seas of forgetting, to the merciful shores of remembrance."
The woman has trouble with her memory, and the photograph brought back those memories, but I didn't have to explain to the reader what I meant when I called it a lighthouse, because EVERYBODY knows lighthouses.
When my son was on his mission in Italy, he spent a fair amount of time teaching African refugees the English language. One of the men he was teaching tried to explain something to him in English, and at a loss for the right words, he said "You know ba-na-na?" My son nodded, "Yes, I know banana," and then, in that context, they could move forward, because the banana gave them a common frame of reference.
I didn't need to write "You know lighthouse?" for the reader to understand, because we all "know lighthouse."
Finding common ground is important. Finding your memories is important. And lighthouses are so important, they deserve a day of celebration. Happy National Lighthouse Day to all the lighthouses in the world. Thank you for guiding us to safety and giving us some common ground.
Comments