Hello Darkness - More Seeds of Hope for Lent

Today’s story seed is Hello Darkness From the Gospel of John chapter 9, verses 2 and 3 “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.” Sanford Greenberg went blind in college. A misdiagnosed case of glaucoma took away his sight, and he thought, at least at first, his life. He dropped out of Columbia University, went home to his parents, and fell into a depression. Art Garfunkel, who was to later become a mega star in the Simon and Garfunkel band, came to the rescue. Garfunkel had been Greenberg’s roommate in college, and Garfunkel convinced him to come back to school. From then on, Garfunkel got him to class, read to him, and generally helped him to succeed in college. Greenberg recently released a memoir entitled Hello Darkness, My Old Friend. “Darkness” was the name Garfunkel referred to himself as he helped Greenberg. Garfunkel would say, “Darkness is going to read to you today.” Greenberg explained that this was Garfunkel’s way of voicing solidarity, because he knew that he was now a voice in Greenberg’s darkness. There was a time when it seemed Garfunkel abandoned Greenberg. He left him at Grand Central Station in New York to fend for himself. Greenberg tripped, stumbled, cut, bruised, and humiliated himself, but eventually found his train to get back to Columbia University. When he was finally back on campus, he bumped into someone. It was Garfunkel. In reality, Garfunkel had never left his side. He was there the whole time looking out for his friend, but not assisting him. Greenberg said Garfunkel knew “…it was only when I could prove to myself I could do it that I would have real independence. And it worked, because after that I felt that I could do anything.” Greenberg not only finished his undergraduate degree, he went on to graduate school. Eventually he earned his doctorate degree from Harvard University. He became an inventor, entrepreneur, and the chairman of the board of governors of the John Hopkins University’s Wilmer Eye Institute. He also helped fund the first album Simon and Garfunkel released. One of the songs on the album was “The Sounds of Silence” which begins, “Hello darkness my old friend.” Paul Simon wrote the song, but that lyric came from Garfunkel and Greenberg’s experience. Greenberg, a Jew, considers himself both religious and very spiritual. He said in an interview with the Times of Israel, “For me, being religious means you must wonder at the blessings all around us. We must model God’s creation, otherwise we miss the magic of daily living.” As you listen to this story, do you wonder what Sanford Greenberg’s life would have been like if he hadn’t gone blind? Would he have been so successful? And how about Art Garfunkel, would he have had the same career if he hadn’t had the experience of helping his friend? The very first hit for Simon and Garfunkel was the Sounds of Silence. Would the song have ever been written if Greenberg hadn’t have gone blind? When we look at our lives, sometimes it seems that we have gotten the short end of the stick, that life is unfair. We may not go blind, but every one of us has hardships to bear. And some of us do go blind. Perhaps each of us is just like the blind man in the scripture today that the disciples ask, “Did he sin, or was it his parents who sinned to make him blind?” Jesus said, it was neither him nor his parents. “It is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.” As we pass the halfway mark in Lent, each of us has a chance to do our share to make the works of God visible in our life. Whatever our circumstances, there is something possible for us that will please God. You may not know what it is, but spend some time in prayer with the sounds of silence and close your eyes and greet darkness your old friend. Now let’s take 30 seconds to water the seed… What challenge have you faced that has made you stronger?