ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK...?

Many people are. The reasons are as numerous as the people. However, one thing's true for us all. Now our days are disappearing into the west more quickly and our nights are invading our lives more insistently. Ready or not, we're left more with our own thoughts and feelings, hopes and fears. I mean, without the long suns to bathe and distract us, there comes more darkness to envelop and hold us.

OK, the nights have their own distraction too. Theatres, sports bars, Rush Street, State Street, the usual necklace of hot spots we wear around our fears like amulets. Still, it's harder to escape yourself than when plump juicy summer brimmed over with all that 24/7 festivity. Chicago nights walk down from the sky with the moon in their hand, when even atheists half-believe in God. So nights are not to be taken lightly.

It's said that character is how we behave when no one's looking. Nights can be that time. Nights have this way of shutting out many of the sights and sounds of day. In these sunless silences prophets have experienced great truths.... scientists have thought great thoughts...lovers have realized their great loves. True, crime rate spike; but how many of these come largely from angry minds unable to succeed in the light of day? The weak find cover in the night, while the strong use the night to better understand the days.

Here's a test.

Next night you step out into the great city, take a second look into the faces around you. In the restaurant, the bar, the club, the theatre, the party. What do you find...? Smiles, laughter, slapped backs, elbowed jokes, dirty dancing, furious fun. Now here's the test. Is the fury of all this fun a matter of embracing the night or hiding from the next day?

It's not exactly the sort of question you pose to your friends. However, no reason why you can't pose it to yourself. Well, it's worth a try. Like the man said: "The unexamined life is not worth living."