Creative Aging: Lighting Small Corners
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” —Proverbs 29:18
As a child in Sunday School, I often sang “This Little Light of Mine.” Our teachers led us in an adapted version, not part of Harry Dixon Lowe’s original lyrics. We sang about shining that light all over our town, our city, our state, and the whole world.
We sang another song about light, too. It ended with, “In this world of darkness, we must shine. You in your small corner, and I in mine.”
I liked the idea of being a big light shining over the whole world. Being a little light in a small corner had no appeal.
I think about my small corner today as I proofread a document. I add and remove commas, correct spellings, capitalize letters, and fix grammatical errors. It is time-consuming work—and, frankly, not very much fun.
I am a reasonably competent proofreader, but I prefer to research a concept, make a discovery, and then discover more about the topic as I structure writing paragraph by paragraph.
Proofreading doesn’t seem like very important work. It is so picky; each change is so small. It’s a minuscule light in a tiny corner.
When I graduated from college, I believed I would shine my light over great distances. I thought it would huge. I was sure my classmates and I would change the world.
These days I no longer believe that.
I will never write the great American novel or even a nonfiction bestseller. I will never speak to crowds of thousands. My name will never be recognized across the country.
I write a column for a small newspaper. I lead a five-person Bible study. I volunteer for a few local service organizations. I clean my house, cook meals, go for walks, play pickleball, and attend worship services. In each activity, I occupy just a small corner.
As I have aged, I have made peace with that small corner. I have come to recognize that most people in the world work in small corners.
Some of us deliver a meal to an ailing neighbor. Others of us teach Sunday school or volunteer to tutor an at-risk grade-school student. Some of us work at thrift stores that earn funds to provide free Bibles or raise money to help people who need a hand up in this world. Others of us drive frail, elderly friends to doctors’ appointments.
However, lighting our small corners is more than volunteering. A simple smile and greeting to a Walmart clerk while shopping lights a small corner. A cheerful conversation with a nurse helping you dress also lights a small corner. Playing with grandchildren lights a small corner.
A story is told of two bricklayers working side by side. They put down a layer of mortar and embedded straight rows of bricks in it, placing bricks in straight rows day after day. A passerby stopped and asked, “What are you doing?”
“Duh. . .” thought the first bricklayer. “That’s obvious.”
But he answered anyway. “I am laying bricks.”
The second bricklayer had a different answer. He replied with pride, “I am building a cathedral.”
Both men did the same job with equal skill. But the second man worked with vision.
I need vision, too.
The document I am proofreading is an application by a Cambodian nonprofit organization for a grant of $20,000. It was written by the agency’s Cambodian director, Sovann Neth. English is his second language, and he needs the writing to be more polished when it is received by the granting agency. The grant will help Sovann and his team to prevent human trafficking of poor Cambodians who migrate to cities or other countries to find work.
I will choose to look at today’s proofreading with vision. Comma by comma, word by word, I will lift my eyes and view Sovann, his team, the granting agency— and our mutual goal of preventing human trafficking. I will see the whole cathedral.
As each of us lights our small corner, that is a lot of light indeed!
Adapted from Creative Aging by Carol Van Klompenburg, published 2023, available from Amazon and for Pella-area residents directly from Carol. Carol has an MA in theater arts and is available for reading performances of her writing on aging, moments in her gardens, and other topics.
Carol, this moved me. Thank you.