The sunrise

A short story dedicated to every American who has had their world rocked since the Great Recession began and are wondering “what’s next?”

The razor scraping down his face hurt. Apparently his two-day stubble wasn’t going to give up so easily. His blood-shot eyes looked into the mirror at the face of a man who was in the middle of a metamorphosis. OW! Another pass down his chin drew blood. The nick and the following pain reminded him he was alive. He was still in the fight.

It was a fight alright. His spirit and his soul had been bloodied. But like Rocky in all 18 or 19 of his movies, he refused to give up.  He just kept pressing forward. His wife said that he was stubborn like that — a great genetic curse that had been passed down through his family.  He smiled. She’d know stubborn. She was just as ornery. Even mules would look at her and think, “dam’, she’s obstinate.”  He ran the water and cleaned out his razor.  The steam from the water tickled his nose and fogged the mirror.  A clean towel wiped the remaining shaving cream from his face.  It was 5:00 a.m. and time to get moving.

Change had flowed through his family’s life like the murky black waters of a tsunami. Old habits, old institutions — their old life — had been swept away.  His family, too, could have perished, but they took the high ground.  They tightly held on to each other and refused to succumb to the swirling eddies of fear below. Now it was time to rebuild.  But how?

He walked back into his dark bedroom and got dressed.  He hoped he didn’t have on a blue and a black sock like yesterday.  He laughed a little — you had to laugh.  He walked over to the bed and ran his hand over his wife’s leg.  She rustled a little, grumbled and went back to sleep. He knew how she had suffered the past year.  Anyone being tossed into such uncertainty would rightfully be angry.  A spouse deserves better.

He then walked down the hall to his kids’ rooms. You could hear their tiny snores coming from their tiny beds.  He had done everything he could to protect them from the upheaval — he had been like the earth, solid on the outside but full of molten fire on the inside. But life went on for them.  He was so thankful.

His coffee was ready. It was the gut-burning brew that brought him a pulse.  The man on the TV spouted the daily doom and gloom.  He sighed and remembered the old Hee Haw skit from years ago of the old guys on the porch singing, “Doom despair, agony on me — if it weren’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all.”  Fear must sell lots of ads, he thought.  That’s what the talking-heads were selling. Of course, he thought, the anchor  was probably worried about being laid off himself.  That had to be driving part of it.  And then there were the politicians.  They were really selling fear right now. Scare the crap out of the American public so they could get reelected.  He shook his head in disgust.  Americans needed to believe in themselves again.  He flipped off the TV. No inspiration there.

Life is a blessing and should not be lived in fear, he thought.

He thought how life really should be lived. True hope. True happiness. Not this reflux-causing crap.  He held the cup to his lips and saw the man holding it reflected it in the kitchen window.  The faint rays of the sunrise caused a pink and orange hue to illuminate the horizon.  It was the promise of another day.

The promise. The hope. That was his role as a father, husband and a leader. He’d bring hope to his family. To his coworkers. To his community. It all started with him. He’d swim against the tide of gloom and be an example for others.  It might have been the caffeine, it might have been the excitement of the possibilities, but his heart raced.

He was still in the fight. He just needed to make sure he was fighting for the right things.  The good things. He looked toward the rooms where his family slept and vowed to change the world one attitude at a time starting with his. He had a fight to win. For them. He had to vanquish their fear.

He poured the remainder of his coffee and his bad attitude down the drain and headed out to change the world. As he drove out of the darkness and into the sunrise, he just laughed.  If the world was going to get better, it was going to have to start with him.  And from that moment, it did.