Jacksonville Residents Shining A Light In Dark Times

By Benjamin Cox on April 6, 2020 at 9:52am

Some Jacksonville residents are putting a candle in their windows at night to bring some light in these dark times. Dr. Walter Meyer of Jacksonville came up with the idea of the traditional symbol to brighten up the night. Meyer reached out to his friend Terri Benz to help spread the word. “Dr. Meyer says, ‘Well, do you think people would put a candle in their window to symbolize God’s light in the world?’ and I said I’m sure they would if they do candles in their home or have one of the battery-operated ones. I asked him what he would think about people turning their porch lights on. He said, ‘Oh, that’s a great idea. Let’s do that.’ I put it on Facebook as a request from Dr. Meyer, and I posted a picture of him. I know how well loved he is in the community. Within 24 hours, we had over 1000 comments and almost every one of them said how much they loved Dr. Meyer and would do anything to help him.”

Benz says that Dr. Meyer’s influence and idea has spread across 17 states. Dr. Meyer doesn’t have Facebook so Benz just facilitated the message. Dr. Meyer says that the light also carries another significance for front line healthcare workers. “I received I don’t know how many calls from several different states that were inquiring about it. We just want them to put a candle in the window at night starting at about dusk and leave it in until about 10 o’clock. They can decide whatever time they want to do – they can turn on their porch light or a pole light. It represents to show how much love and concern and how proud we are of the hard work that our doctors doing. How tired they must be when they go home and worried about spreading it to the children. There’s a lot of ramifications to it.”

Dr. Meyer says he has been surprised by the amount of interest that the idea has garnered, and hopes the little light in these dark times gives everyone a bit of hope.