Watching the lights come on

It's the time of year when (finally!) it is 8:00 pm and only beginning to get dark. If you were sitting at a window overlooking a busy road or a panorama of apartment buildings, you could watch the lights coming on. Some of them would be switched on as people enter rooms, and some would have been on for some time. You would only notice them as it grew dark outside.

Today I was coaching young people in an office without windows. And I was watching the lights come on - as realizations made their way from deep within to their eyes and their smiles.

Later, I spoke with a busy entrepreneur who is very, very good at what he considers important. He burns with a steady intensity, but the lights don't go on very often. His model is so tight that he can negotiate it in the dark.

I wonder if he ever sits in an airplane or a highrise hotel. And watches the lights come on.

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