And that opportunity is all around us, as we go about our everyday lives. These people exist in our memory because we know that the trajectory of our lives have been forever altered because of them.Įach day presents an opportunity for each of us to be a lighthouse for another. Or it could have been a kind stranger who offered up a word of encouragement or comfort in a challenging time. We remember the most important people in our life-those human lighthouses-because they embodied all the best attributes of the physical structure.Ī human lighthouse could have been an elementary school teacher, a high school coach, a supportive colleague, an understanding priest or pastor, or a great boss. The only thing that matters to the lighthouse is our humanity because it knows that we all have a common story.

It is not concerned with our politics, where we were raised or how much money we have. It does not judge us for being lost or uncertain.

The lighthouse is selfless and steadfast, resilient and noble, protective and humble. The reason lighthouses endure is because they remind us how we can best navigate humanity, especially in times of difficulty and uncertainty. Yet there are nearly 23,000 of them across the world and there has been an ongoing effort to preserve them. As a physical structure, we no longer have a need for lighthouses to help us navigate the sea. The lighthouse is a powerful metaphor for how we might accomplish this. They provide a lighthouse to help us navigate life’s storms and uncertainties and shows us the way past polarization to find our more common story. But human stories do something else, too. Human stories connect us because they let us know that we are not alone-in our pain or our suffering. You witness sacrifice you can barely describe and the perseverance of the human spirit. You understand the joys and regrets people have, the secrets they carry, and the dreams they are trying to fulfill.

When you are on the receiving end of so many human stories, you come to see the true essence of humanity. It has been a one of the great Blessings of my life. And so my book, A Chance in the World, became an invitation for others all across the world to share their stories with me.

But I learned-pretty quickly- that I had a written a more universal story-one of family, faith, fortitude and forgiveness that touches all of our lives. I had intended it to be a family history that future generations would read one day. Some years ago, I wrote my coming-of-age journey of getting lost in the gaps of the foster care system and my long, desperate search for my biological family.

Steve pemberton the lighthouse effect