Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars

This video is the first part of the little documentary I made about Martin Luther King's mountaintop speech. In this part, I do two things:

i) I go through the first story in his speech, the one where he explains that his own time is the best time he can imagine to live in
ii) I show a little bit of the inspiring environment I was in, when I made this part of the video.

In this short blog post, I will just add a few extra things to this video.

First, regarding the clip from the speech: it contains one of my favorite quotes of all times, and I don't really mention why in the video. The quote is "only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars". As will become clear in the following videos, that's a typical Martin Luther King quote. The reason why I love this quote so much is that it reminds you that when things seem bleak for some reason - either in your personal life or in society - smaller positive gestures are seen more clearly. When you feel down as hell, and somebody gives you a smile, that can make all the difference in the world. Or perhaps even more importantly, your own small acts of kindness are more obviously visible - you can make more of a difference! - when things look bleak. Therefore, dark times are inspiring times! They are times when even small efforts in the right direction may become shining little stars, that suddenly are seen quite clearly.

Second, regarding the environment I was in. It was in the island where my very cool aunt lives. In her life, she started her own clothing company when she was in her 20s. In the beginning, she did all of the designs herself, and her husband took all of the pictures. However, over the years, her enterprise has grown and grown, and she has 22 shops that sell in >16 different countries. She is still, at 76 years old, at the heart of both the business empire and the design process. And much of that design has been done on this island. So the environment is very inspiring for that reason. But the environment was also really great for other reasons. First because it was isolated: not so much to do on an island, and the only natural thing to do is to let what is inside you come out. Second, because it was with family and friends. I really believe that any sound change in our society must come from us finding a way of living where we can act in a sound way, both in regards to our function in society at large, and with a warm and nurturing support-network of family and friends. Below you see a couple of pictures from this visit.