Nations, like stars, are entitled to eclipse. All is well, provided the light returns and the eclipse does not become endless night…

The reappearance of the light is the same as the survival of the soul.

   – Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

On Monday many of us will have the best chance in our lifetimes to see a solar eclipse. It’s always a little bit terrifying, when the thing that’s always been there suddenly is not.

The great benefit of any sort of eclipse – personal, national, solar – is that it gives us the chance to rejoice at the reappearance of the light.

Here’s to that light – to the survival of our souls.