One of the most interesting and baffling things about the universe around us are the black holes in space.  Scientists have been studying them for years, still don't know what they are.  Perhaps if these back holes, dark holes, or darn energy spots were just here and there in space, we'd ignore them, but they make up a whopping 74 percent of what's out there.  You can't ignore three-fourths of anything . . . especially since it's pulling the universe apart.  No need to worry because this isn't about to happen any time soon.

Scientists know that dark holes are powerful magnetic force fields with enormous gravitational pull.  Anything that gets close to them gets sucked in, and we can only assume then that it somehow becomes a part of the dark hole itself.  But even though we know a little about what they're doing and how they behave, we don't know what they are.  Predictions are that it will be a long time before we figure it out.

I'm a social scientist, and I don't know much about outer space or even about the great universe around me.  I study it sometimes, though, thinking that maybe there's a hint or two there that carries over into how we behave as human beings.  The world we live in has dark spots.  We study them as intently as we study the stars, but we still don't know much about them - even when we think we do.  Some people see them, understand them, but the rest of us don't listen to them, don't believe them even if we do listen.  We either don't see the spots, or if we do, we don't want to know anything about them.  They're dark places, and most of us are afraid of the dark.

There are good reasons for our fear of the dark holes in our society and ourselves.  Maybe its instinctive, or perhaps a bit of intuitiveness, but we fear the dark because we know it has a capacity to suck us in, draw us to dark things we want no part of.  We know we are capable of things, for instance, but we just had rather not do them.  I can't say for sure what happens in outer space with dark holes, but I know how they work in society.  War, not just the actual conflict itself, but the clamor for it is a good example of how this dark force works.  America has gone to war on occasions because a dark cloud, a black power force, swept over the country and brought on a craving to kill.  Perhaps we had been wronged, like in the case of 9/11, or even attacked like with Pearl Harbor - these are the things that can bring out the dark side of us all. 

Dark holes in our personalities and therefore our societies are magnetic in their own way.  Societies have gone into war frenzies after being wronged, and some would say that's just a part of human nature.  Wrong us, and we will wrong you back . . . or maybe we'll wrong somebody back.  If you study history, you'll find that about half the getting back wars ended up getting back at the wrong people.  The innocent always suffer in wars; they always suffer when souls of men turn black with resentment and anger.  It turns out that our sense of direction when it comes to getting back is not as good as our sense of self-preservation and eye-for-an-eye attitude about life in general.

Dark holes in people and therefore the societies they build around themselves are often given credit for our bravery and are seen as a factor in the strength of an individual . . . or a nation.  As a person, an individual, we want others to know that if you mess with us, we'll get you back.  As a nation, we want other nations to know the same - mess with us, and we get you.  See it anyway you want, but this is not a bright spot in a person, or a nation.  It's not bright because it's not smart.  The only way we'll ever learn to deal with this darkness within us is to examine it.  Some people call this soul searching, and I guess that's as good a term as any.

Let me suggest to you another dark hole within us.  We have a hard time being good to the little things in our lives, and I'm not just talking about little critters.  It's easy to want to kick the cat when it gets in your way.  Cats, if you've ever noticed, are that way by nature - underfoot.  Losing your temper is easy, but all the cat is doing is being a cat.  I've kicked my share of cats, and I've also lashed out at my children when they were doing nothing more than just being a child.  It's easy to lash out at an old person for being slow and in the way, and perhaps even complaining about it.  We forget that they're old and are just acting like old people normally act.  I could give you any number of examples of dark hole behavior, but I think you get the point. 

We can handle most of the things in life that get in our way, spoil our days, make our road more difficult without allowing the dark sports within us to take over and rule the event, the situation.  It's not easily done, but it's possible.  I meet people all the time who do a better job of keeping their dark holes subdued than I do . . . and I admire them for it.  I try to deal with my own dark spots by convincing myself that nothing about my day, my precious time, is so important that I can't slow down and let the cat rub around on my legs, or wait on that old person at the store who just can't seem to get their check written at the cash register.

Or maybe when one of the grandkids has pushed you to the brink, that spot near the dark hole where you're just about to be sucked in, and you get control of the moment . . . and say, "Papaw loves you a lot, but if you do that again, he's going to smack you across the room, OK?"  That works a lot better.  At least you warned 'em first, right?  And you keep the dark hole part of you where it belongs - subdued.

PMC, 1/18/08