Tigers in the Dark

Many Americans will receive the "gift" of an extra hour of sleep this weekend.

If you're in one of the States that observe Daylight Saving Time, remember to set the clocks back an hour before you go to bed Saturday night. You'll find the sun out a little bit earlier on, appropriately, Sunday.

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Many years ago a circus was broadcast live on television in front of a large audience, and one of the acts featured a lion tamer and a cage full of Bengal tigers.

The trainer entered the cage and locked the door behind him. The spotlights highlighted the cage and as the television cameras moved in closer, the audience watched in suspense. The trainer put the fierce cats through their paces, but in the middle of the performance, the unexpected happened: the power failed and the lights went out!

For twenty or thirty long seconds, the trainer was stranded, locked in with the tigers, knowing they could see him perfectly, but he could not see them at all. His whip and a small stool were all that stood between him and certain death.

But he survived, and when the lights came back on, he finished his performance to a standing ovation.

Later, in an interview, the trainer was asked how he felt knowing the tigers could see him but he was completely in the dark. He admitted that fear had sent a chill down his spine, but then he realized that the tigers didn't know he couldn't see them. "I just kept cracking my whip," he said, "and I kept talking to them until the lights came back on. And they never knew I couldn't see them."

The parallel to what occasionally happens in our own life is unmistakable. At some point, we are all fighting tigers in the dark, terrors we cannot see. But if we trust to what we know, just keep cracking our whip, and wait for the Light, all will be well.

[A Dose of Inspiration via Wit and Wisdom; slightly rewritten by Mark Raymond]

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WEBSITE of the WEEK: NASA says there are 818 asteroids larger than half-a-mile across in near Earth space. Though they are confident that none appear to be headed our way, there is now a website where you can check the data about what would happen if one did at http://www.purdue.edu/impactearth. You can fill in your own measurements, or use the drop down lists and take one of their suggestions.

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