Bringing Light to the Darkness

Nestled beneath the greens and the holiday lights, on a doorstep in a Doylestown Township neighborhood, a small flame lit a beacon of hope.

Hope that somehow, someway, we would understand, that we would heal, that we would recover, that we would make things better.

The candle on the doorstep of Amanda Soler's home was a symbol - of grief, yes, but also of that flicker of hope that yet remains.

Soler is one of thousands of people nationwide who lit a candle in honor of the victims who died last Friday in a school shooting that has shaken the country to its core.

When she placed it on the doorstep of her home in Old Colonial Green, she joined thousands of families across the country doing the same.

After seeing a movement organized on Facebook to spread the candlelight across the country in memory of Newtown, Conn., Soler knew she wanted to be a part of it.

"We lit the candle because it seemed like a simple yet profound way to honor and remember the people who were lost to us," said Soler, a director at the Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce. "This small shining light on our doorstep, in the dark rainy night, felt like a beacon of hope.

"And, the fact that so many like candles 'stood' in the doorways of our friends and neighbors near and far gave us the thought that the goodness in the world could shine out and overpower what darkness there is."