I looked out today on “evening light,” just when the sun falls below six degrees each day, scattering blue light, leaving a honey glow across everything, red waves mixed with tangerine. Some call it “eventide,” the moment just before twilight.
In this hour, old churches sang “evensong,” or the Psalms. It is a time that causes pause, makes you ponder your mortality, your morality, your duties, this world awash in fear, evil, and strife, your life.
In Maine, our sunsets are more west than south (it will drift south come winter). The glow warms a blanket of needles, at rest where they fell from towering pines, each pine bright on one side, dark on the other, and each casting a long shadow, slash of black, turning my yard into a tiger’s back.
In this moment, my mind sometimes rests and sometimes races, like a child at play, trying to catch up with my heart, which does the same. Today, the question of the hour – for this Maine-iac – is why: Why run for governor, go through all the mud, muck, misery, and hate to fix this place, my state?
Why wrestle those who demonize, doubt, and deny that we face an onslaught, a hurricane, of drug trafficking, who somehow try to pull victory from hundreds of dead kids a year, 10,000 fatal and non-fatal overdoses, arguing we are just fine, just another normal year, nothing to see here?
Why say over and over, not for those who know but for those who know not, that our property taxes – driven by a hellish obsession with overspending and mandates, in a state with no money, are the highest in the country, that income taxes and sales are a crime, driving us to bust, killing us?
Why repeat, quote experts, cite studies, and write about the tragedy of Maine’s collapsing schools – schools once the toast of the nation, now the last of 50, filled with frustration, infected with indoctrination, 4th graders unable to read, 8th graders at a loss for math, parents searching for a better path?
Why take the slings and arrows for saying corrupt non-profits, from Lewiston to South Portland, and shamelessly corrupt politicians in Augusta’s ruling party, the Democrat Senate leader to Democrat Governor, are on the take, all about political graft, a criminal infestation, each due for investigation?
Why deal with the constant profanity and libel online, the sideswipes on social media, brushes with violence on the campaign trail, the ugliness of inanity, insanity, stupidity, and evil cup – why step up?
The answer is, simple and solemn, that if you care, if you hear a voice in the silence, if your conscience has not been dulled to despair, if you understand evening light, the echo of evensong, that we must be strong, have an intergenerational debt, then you cannot give up – not yet.
As we breathe, we owe. As we ponder, we know. As we rise to accept our duty to those who did so before, to those who surround us now, and those who will come after – the children – we are acting in accord with our conscience, doing what we know is right. This is our time, this is our fight.
So, as today’s sun sets, that warm glow replaced by purple, a kind of amethyst, remember when we ponder, resolve, and work – we define the future. It reflects our effort, all of us, at our best.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!
RBC, great reflection in your article that applies not only to the State of Maine but to the entire nation as a whole. The people need to wake up and start taking back the freedoms that have been marginalized by the enemy as they seek to destroy this nation. This is the time where the nation and the people are on the border of either recovery or losing it forever.
That relatively brief period of day — Twilight Time — a time good for the mind ,the soul ,the spirit . It can help to reinvigorate our sense of purpose in this life.As you wrote toward the end Robert – “This is our time ,this is our fight”. Recognizing the responsibilities that present themselves under various circumstances . any political position Governor, Representative,Mayor has requirements that involve keeping things in balance. Wrote a comment recently about former Mayor of Philadelphia Frank Rizzo as an example of how a position like that should and should not be handled. Always had mixed feelings about Frank Rizzo – he was far from perfect – just as everyone else on this earth is – considering that he spent most of his life in law enforcement he must have understood that there is a time when police work ends and it becomes a battle ,a war – like when gunfire is being exchanged with a criminal element . That sort of experience would have shaped his outlook as Mayor very much so. The next sentence does not have anything to do with politics ,just adding it for the purpose of humor , a laugh – good for mind and spirit . Getting off of a local bus recently (de – busing ) the bus driver said ” Watch your feet ” in the interest of being careful and safe exiting And I said that is easy to do — if someone says ” Watch your head” I usually will say I need a mirror to do that . So our sense of purpose should be thought of with a reverence for the way we conduct ourselves. Adjustments will always be needed and looking at the mistakes made by others as well as ourselves is important. With Faith in God and the guidance of noble endeavors such as doing what is in the interest of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness .
Thank you, Robert, for having, not just a conscience, but the courage to back it up and the life experience to know what to do. Many of us, even though not from Maine, appreciate your valiant efforts.
I agree think my favorite time of day now that I’m older is just before dusk,watching the sun set with all the colors up in the sky.it really makes one pause and realize how very lucky we are to live in the greatest country in the world. Only wish demonrats felt the same way. ????
You make me wish I was in Maine to witness the beauty you so wonderfully describe and also to be privileged to vote for you. Alas, I am far away but you are on my prayers. God speed and safety for you and yours.
I concur with every word Max said below.
RBC, thank you for stepping up. God bless you always and may He and His Angels always keep you enveloped in Their loving, protecting arms and guide you forward with ease and grace to help save this beautiful nation.