Essay - Beyond the Darkness of the Clouds Lies the Brightness of...

Beyond the darkness of the clouds lies the brightness of ***** sunlight.

I can't even remember the first time he said it, but I can ***** about two hundred times that he did. It was one ***** those expressions you hear, but ***** don't think about, like pennywisepoundfoolish, as if ***** were ***** word.

My dad is an idealist, a romanticist, and a platitude purveyor. He is a less-nerdy Ned Flanders on the Simpsons, always smiling and only seeing the best in people. He is a yin y*****ng *****orist who cannot look at anger without seeing joy. He cannot see destitution without ***** redemption.

I either inherited my *****'s confident nature, sunny disposition, and jocular wit, or he programmed it into me. As far back as I can re*****mber, I w***** a half-full thinking person. The glass was never half-empty for me. Make lemons into lemonade. Every cloud has a silver lining. Th*****t was ***** - a very happy, tenacious kid. ***** persevered because I did not know any better. It just never occurred to me that the outcome could be unfavorable or unproductive. In retrospect, I have come to realize that ***** easy and self-assured nature is a fortui*****us g*****t.

Beyond ***** darkness of the ***** lies the brightness of the *****. is a prec*****e narrative of my dad's attitude. ***** believed ***** e*****thing in our environment was for our benefit. He believed that if you intend to accomplish great things, you will encounter great obstacles.

However, I believe that this maxim is sign*****icant in that it articulates ***** essence of the subconscious. The images ***** shadow and light, sun and clouds, dark and bright abound ***** literature. Generally, they are used to comp***** good and evil.

For example, in Holland, Sinterklaas, the predecessor of Santa Claus, was an austere bishop who wore a red *****'s costume *****d rode on a white horse. Many white images appear *****h ***** icon of *****ness and rewards. On December 6, Sinterklaas arrives on a ship. He keeps the n*****mes of the children ***** how they ***** behaved during the year in a big book. Children who h*****ve been well behaved in the past year get presents.

However, ***** ***** who were bad are taken away by Sinterklaas's assistant, Zwarte Pieten or Black Pete. The worst children are put in Zwarte Piet's bag, the bag that carried sweets to the good children, and they are carried off to Spain. This bad icon, ***** Pete takes the children to a pl*****ce where more black people live. This was a dreadful consequence in the minds of the Dutch.

For centuries, this *****me has ***** programmed into the immature psyches of Dutch children. The good of ***** ***** the evil of ***** are a universal symbols ***** children in their games and stories. ***** most obvious example is that good guys wear white ***** bad guys ***** black. Angels are always dressed in white. Witches wear *****. Brides ***** *****. Mourners wear black. Black magic is