Thanks for the light

What a great way to start off a night. With a light. A bright, bright light under a dark, dark bridge. A bridge darker than a black hole inside a cave. A bridge darker than a shadow’s pocket. A bridge so dark it was built by Donnie Darko during the Dark Ages!

So, it was pretty dark. This bridge near my house was the site of a mugging early in the school year. That didn’t bode well for my nerves for a few weeks. I really hated the bridge. I avoided walking under it as much as I could, even during the day.

While bridges can be useful in some ways, it is important to understand they can also be detrimental to the environment in other ways.

For example, bridges might enable trains, cars and people to pass over ditches without falling, yet they also provide perfect dwellings for muggers and vampire bats to hide and reproduce.

So, not such a great trade-off after all.

Needless to say, even with the six auto turret sentry guns strategically positioned around my house, I was a little anxious at night sleeping about 100 feet away from this bridge’s dark underpass.

It seemed if anything was going to go wrong in Bloomington on a given night, it was bound to happen under that bridge.

I considered digging a moat around my house, but that would have inconvenienced the mailman.

I decided I would just have to overcome my worries and deal with the bridge in a civil manner. I began walking under it every day on my way to and from class.

It wasn’t long before I developed a friendly rapport with the bridge. I became comfortable walking under it, even at night. I could hardly remember why I had ever been uncomfortable around it in the first place.

Then, one night, I noticed the bridge that has always been so dark as long as I’ve known it looked much brighter than usual. I found there had been a streetlight installed on a telephone pole just a few feet away from the bridge, vastly enhancing visibility underneath it.

I have no clue how or when this light was put in, but I can only guess it was done by someone working for the city of Bloomington. If so, I would like to thank them.

Although I eventually came to terms with my bridge, I feel much better knowing it will be well lit during future nights.

I understand it’s impossible to rid the city of all danger, but it’s nice to know someone out there is concerned with improving public safety for students and citizens, even if it only happens one light at a time.

­— aleblakl@indiana.edu