The Parable of Driving in Moonlight

One day while teaching, Josh was asked, ”Teacher, on Santa Lucia day, is it not proper to reflect on yuletide as a festival of lights warding off the darkness of the solstice?”

Josh spoke thus:

A driver was driving without headlights.

There was a full moon, and there was a blanket of newly fallen snow on the ground.

“Isn’t this beautiful?” the driver asked the driver’s companion in the passenger seat.

“It isn’t beautiful,” the driver’s companion said, “It’s dangerous.”

“It isn’t dangerous,” the driver said, “I know this road like the back of my hand.”

“Turn on the lights,” the driver’s companion said.

“It’s like a cloudscape,” the driver said, “Like we’ve flown up above the clouds, and we’re driving on the top of the clouds.  We’re flying.  We’re floating.”

“We’re not floating,” the driver’s companion said, “We’re driving.  We’re driving down a country back road in the middle of the night with no lights on.”

“We don’t need lights!” the driver said, “The moon is so bright, and the snow is so white, we can see without headlights.”

“We can see the snow, and we can see the moon,” the driver’s companion said, “What we can’t see is the road.”

“I can see the road,” the driver said.

“What you can see is where the snow isn’t,” the driver’s companion said, “That’s not the same thing as seeing the road.”

“Where’s your sense of beauty?” the driver asked.

“Stop the car, and I’ll look at the beauty,” the driver’s companion said.

“Where’s your sense of adventure?” the driver asked, “Where’s your sense of mystery?”

“There’s adventure,” the driver’s companion said, “And then there’s stupidity.  There’s mystery, and then there’s just not being able to see where you’re going.”

“I know where I’m going,” the driver said, “Just relax and feel the moment.  Feel how we’re floating!  Feel how we’re in a moonlit wonderland.  Feel how we’re...”

There was a clunk, and then a dragging sound.  The driver brought the car to a halt.  The driver and the driver’s companion climbed out of the car.  The driver’s companion shone a flashlight beneath the car.  Attached to the car’s undercarriage was a large tree branch.

“The weight of the snow must have broken the branch,” the driver said, “The snow is heavy.”

The driver’s companion walked to the car and turned on the headlights.  In front of the car, the road was strewn with broken branches from the avenue of trees that lined the road.

“You know what I can’t describe?” the driver’s companion said to the driver, “I can’t describe the back of my hand.”