Sunrise, Sunset

I sometimes stay for a few days in a seaside village in the southern part of New Jersey. Every time I do, I wake up early to watch the sunrise and take pictures of it. I recently looked at some photos I took there and couldn't tell which were sunrises and which were sunsets. The two photos were almost identical, so that's the only reason I could tell.

 

Twilight is the time between sunset and complete darkness, or between night and dawn. In astronomy, dawn is the time just before sunrise, and it is divided into three parts, each 6 degrees away from the horizon. Similarly, dusk is the time just after sunset, and it is also divided into three parts, each 6 degrees away from the horizon. Whether it is dawn or dusk, the brightness of the sunlight is the same if the sun is located at the same angle from the horizon. So, sunrise and sunset photos are almost identical.

 

Sunrise is defined as the moment when the upper edge of the sun's disk touches the horizon in the morning, and sunset is defined as the moment when the upper edge of the sun's disk touches the horizon in the evening. In other words, time passes as light and darkness alternate in the following order: day - sunset - (three parts of dusk) - night - (three parts of dawn) - sunrise - day. The reason why we divide the day into ten parts, with the period immediately after sunset and immediately before sunrise being subdivided, is probably because there is not much change in brightness between day and night, but the change in brightness is severe immediately after sunset and immediately before sunrise.

 

Most people live their days without paying much attention to the changes in light and darkness, such as "Thus evening came, and morning followed.” (Genesis 1, 5) However, when I was a patient in the intensive care unit of a hospital, I was able to feel the process of the sun setting and the sun rising, from darkness to night, and from light to day, from my hospital bed.

 

It was a time when I was in a dazed state, day and night, due to the powerful painkillers (probably containing narcotic substances) that were administered to alleviate the severe pain caused by the amputation of one leg after a traffic accident. Even in the middle of the night, medical staff would come and go frequently to perform various tests, wash my body well after midnight, and make a lot of noise while cleaning, so I couldn't sleep.

 

I felt like I was going to suffocate because of the boiling phlegm a few times in the middle of the night, and even though I rang the call bell countless times, the nurse almost always pretended not to hear it. Even if they came, they would look at the patient gasping for breath and ridicule the patient who was seized with the fear of death. When they had something to do, they would wake up the patient and prevent them from sleeping, but when the patient needed them, they would leave them to die or not. So I spent every night almost wide awake, eagerly waiting for the morning. My heart at that time was no less eager than the desperate heart of the psalmist who said, "My soul looks for the Lord more than sentinels for daybreak More than sentinels for daybreak” (Psalm 130:6).

 

After dawn, the unfriendly nursing assistant was replaced by a kind and gentle registered nurse, my wife came, and visitors continued to visit during the day, so even the critical patient could endure it. However, as the sun began to set and I felt that the long and long night was approaching, I began to feel uneasy. At that time, I felt a sense of relief when dawn came, thinking, "I survived through the night, so I can live one more day today." And I was so afraid that the night would come when I felt the evening twilight approaching.

 

After spending 7 months in the hospital, I learned that even the longest and darkest night would end and the sun would always rise, and that even in the darkness, light waits for its time to reveal itself. That's why even in the midst of terrible suffering, you can't lose hope, just as you can see the bright stars in the pitch-black night sky.

 

In general, light is perceived as positive and darkness as negative. In the Bible, light and darkness are used as metaphors for happiness and misfortune, wisdom and folly, good and evil, sweet and bitter, righteousness and lawlessness, etc.

 

However, our lives are not always full of sunshine, and the night does not last forever. Light and darkness come and go alternately, and sometimes the two intersect. Life is a journey of repeatedly finding light in the darkness.

 

Like the lyrics of the song "Sunrise, Sunset" from the musical "Fiddler on the Roof," our lives, which are like the alternation of night and day, also pass by quickly without us realizing it. Looking at the growth of my grandchildren, I think that the long night that seemed so long has finally come to an end.

 

“Is this the little girl I carried? / Is this the little boy at play? / I don’t remember growing older / When did they? / When did she get to be a beauty? / When did he grow to be so tall? / Wasn’t it yesterday when they were small?.

 

Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset / Swiftly flow the days / Seeding turn overnight to sunflowers / Blooming even as we gaze / Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset / Swiftly flow the days”

 

I think that the growth of my grandchildren is a metaphor for the process of finding light in the darkness of life. Just as they have grown from small children to young adults, we can also find hope and strength in the midst of difficult times.

 

(April 23, 2023)