Week 5: The Powerful Symbolism of Light

Disclaimer: This photo is a reenactment

On Tuesday of this past week I was up late doing homework. It was probably around 2 in the AM when suddenly the no color blue-ish LED in my backyard came on. It’s a sensor light, so it comes on when something outside moves.

The week before my parents left it kept coming on randomly. My dad went to go check it out and there was nothing outside. He kept adjusting the senor settings, but it would still come on randomly. Obviously there’s probably a glitch with it, or it was just the wind.

When this happened on Tuesday I, of course, naturally thought that there was a knife wielding murderer outside that would make me live my darkest nightmares before killing me. I contemplated waking my brother up, but it had settled down. On my way back to my homework it suddenly came on again. I hid on my stairs and watched the window apprehensively, clutching my architect ruler in my hand. (Why I didn’t grab the ridiculously sharp right triangle for protection is beyond me).

I stood waiting. Waiting for that one light to come on. And then it did. When I saw it come on this pulsating fear pulsed through my body (as pulsations usually do). Instantly I froze where I stood, as I became numb, and clenched my architect ruler harder.

This one single, solitary light that came on confirmed that a knife murderer was in southern Orange County and had specifically chosen to come after me. After all, Irvine is the safest city in the world. I live in Mission Viejo.

After another 20 minutes of freaking out, and hearing banging sounds (that my cats also heard!), I calmed down quickly once my cat Oz came in around 3am. It was after I had calmed that I realized how powerfully symbolic and light can be when put into context.

I took the picture the next night, as not to risk getting murdered.

It’s interesting to because even with the other lights on, this light has such a powerful affect on me. It didn’t have to be a light in the darkness to create fear. The light isn’t even a scary color. It was the meaning behind the light.