Everyone Has Light Inside Them

By Rev. Erin Tuineau, Religious and Values Education (RaVE) Teacher

As part of the Year 7 RaVE assessment, students are asked to choose a section of the Yungbali story (told on Foundation Day) or part of the College prayer that appeals to them and then respond to it in a creative way. Below is the creative response one of my Year 7 students, Ella Barrasch, submitted for this assessment. The words of the College prayer that stood out to Ella were "fill us with light." It is such an insightful response that I wanted to share it with the wider Radford community:

"Damien was a very unpleasant man. He was always pessimistic, and whenever he had the chance he would find a way to empty someone’s bucket. Soon, everybody was tired of Damien always being mean, so they told the priest. The priest decided to have a chat with Damien, and one Monday evening, he pulled him aside and told him how his behaviour had affected everyone around him. Damien didn’t care, and tried to empty the priest’s bucket, but the priest kept going, telling him again and again how he was making everyone feel, but it didn’t make a difference. That evening, the priest decided to pray to Jesus. He told Jesus about Damien and asked for advice. Jesus told Damien, ‘Maybe you’re not approaching this the right way; Damien isn’t a bad person, everyone has light inside them, you just need to help him find it.’ The priest didn’t understand what this meant. ‘What do you mean?’ he asked Jesus, ‘How do I help him find his light?’ Jesus simply replied, ‘Find what is darkening his light.’ The next day, the Priest approached Damien again. ‘What is troubling you?’ the Priest asked Damien. Damien then went on to explain what was bothering him, and then they were able to help him find his light. Now, Damien is one of the happiest and most kind-hearted people in the town. This story shows that everyone has light inside them, you just need to find it."

Apart from being impressed with how thoughtful this response was, I thought it was a beautiful reminder that we need to be careful about how we look and see each other as individuals. Often when someone is behaving badly, we label them as a bad person. This story shows that human beings are far more complicated than being good or bad. God made us all, and so we each have goodness inside us somewhere. However, this goodness can often get warped and crushed by experiences in our lives, and so it can struggle to shine through into the world around us. May we all remember to seek the light that lies within ourselves and others, particularly when we think there is none.