The spark.

"Goodness is not blindness — but courage, to see the spark even when it is covered by ashes."

In a village there lived a blacksmith who lit a fire every day.

Not to look at the flame, but to shape iron.

One day a young man came to him and asked:

- Master, why aren't you afraid that fire will destroy everything one day?

There is so much evil in the world. Betrayal, envy, greed.

Why do you still believe that man is good?

The blacksmith did not answer immediately.

He put a piece of cold iron on the embers.

- Look - he said. - The iron is hard. Cold. Heavy.

If you looked at it, you wouldn't say it could be shaped.

The young man nodded.

The blacksmith took the iron out of the fire.

It was glowing red.

- Goodness is like that - he continued. –

It's not always visible.

It's not always warm.

But the potential is there.

– And if someone does something bad? – the young man asked.

– Then there's no spark in it?

The blacksmith smiled.

– The spark is in every iron.

There are just those who let it cool down.

And there are those who put themselves in the fire again.

The young man was silent for a long time.

– And if someone ever hurts you?

If they ever betray you?

– Then that action was bad – said the blacksmith. –

Not their existence.

If you start to suspect after every bad thing, you put out your own hearth.

The blacksmith started hammering.

The iron took shape.

– Goodness is not naivety – he added quietly. –

It's a decision.

Because if you see everyone as dark, the spark in you cools down too.

Years later, the young man became a blacksmith himself.

And when someone disappointed him once, he didn't put out the flame.

He just fanned it stronger.

Because he understood: The light is not strong because there is no shadow,

but because it flares up again and again.

The Light.