They aren't just lights!

js

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 2, 2003
Messages
5,793
Location
Upstate New York
They aren\'t just lights!

I occasionally hear the refrain "They're just flashlights people!" followed by sound psychological advice to get more sleep and/or calm down or "get a grip" and so on. Sometimes this is because someone has truly lost perspective on things and is being uncivil and overly demanding. Other times this is said to try to make everyone understand that these pieces of aluminum and glass and tungsten and silicon and lexan are just that: material, matter, stuff. Not really important.

In the first case, where someone is being rude, I don't believe it has anything at all to do with flashlights, but rather with the persons attitude. Trying to get the person to understand that flashlights are unimportant is putting the cart before the horse. I think the proper thing to say would be "This is a human being you're abusing! He (or she) is MORE important than your flashlight."

In the second case--which is what I am posting about--I think that this little mantra is completely off base. What, if anything, is "ONLY" such and such? Would you tell someone who was searching around on the ground for his or her wedding ring "It's only a ring, dude. It's just a band of metal"? I hope not.

Certainly, to some people, a flashlight is only just a flashlight, and that's OK.

But to others, a flashlight is so much more than "just" a flashlight. It is a holy item; a symbol; a talisman. It is a security blanket and a comfort and a discrete bit of joy. It is a palladium against unknown enemies, and a shining beacon for scattered friends.

Somtimes when I'm a bit down, I turn on one of my lights and shine it into the palm of my hand, and that happy brightness and intense light pouring out of the lens makes me feel just a bit richer and a lot better.

For the true flashaholic, a flashlight is a mystical thing, something more than the material out of which it was fashioned. And in the CPF modding world, I believe it also represents friendship and community and excellence and goodwill. When you hold a custom piece in your hand, made by a friend on CPF, you hold a solidified piece of a community. It's a spiritual thing. The significance of a flashlight is not limited to a small realm only; it ranges far and wide. Flashlights bring people together like almost nothing else, despite the isolating and alienating influences at work in the world.

A flashlight is so much more than just a flashlight here on CPF. And thank God for that!
 

Jefff

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Joined
Nov 4, 2004
Messages
359
Location
Defiance, Ohio
Re: They aren\'t just lights!

Wow... That's,,,... that's pretty cool! on the verg of sounding a bit scary ... but I can some how connect with it .. thanks for the post...
 

KevinL

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Jun 10, 2004
Messages
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At World's End
Re: They aren\'t just lights!

Amen brother.

I have found few other places with the integrity, civility and community that CPF has. Flashlights on their own are already awesome. CPF makes the experience so much richer than that though.. because it's now a shared experience.
 

JonSidneyB

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Joined
Jun 22, 2001
Messages
3,423
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Greenfield In
Re: They aren\'t just lights!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif

Shining a tiny Larry light into my palm right now.
 

Kiessling

Flashaholic
Joined
Nov 26, 2002
Messages
16,140
Location
Old World
Re: They aren\'t just lights!

js ... what a beautiful post. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
thanx.
bernhard
 

Christoph

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Aug 18, 2002
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Hagerstown,Md
Re: They aren\'t just lights!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy23.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/clap.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
 

SilverFox

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Jan 19, 2003
Messages
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Location
Bellingham WA
Re: They aren\'t just lights!

Hello Jim,

It is interesting how much light affects our lives...

I happen to be in the wonderful position of having to use lights all the time at work. While the object is to illuminate what I am inspecting, I can not tell you how much pleasure I get from doing it with a high quality light.

Of course I also enjoy the comments from people standing by.

Tom
 

tequilathursday

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Aug 20, 2004
Messages
157
Location
nj
Re: They aren\'t just lights!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 

elgarak

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Jul 30, 2004
Messages
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Florida
Re: They aren\'t just lights!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/clap.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif
 

scuba

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May 9, 2003
Messages
468
Location
Canada
Re: They aren\'t just lights!

[ QUOTE ]
SilverFox said:
I happen to be in the wonderful position of having to use lights all the time at work.

[/ QUOTE ]

You are one lucky man!
 

jayflash

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 4, 2003
Messages
3,909
Location
Two Rivers, Wisconsin
Re: They aren\'t just lights!

Great psychology, js, and thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Like SilverFox, I'm fortunate to have a job which requires the use of lights on a daily basis. In fact I'm a little too lucky in that I get to switch between various lights to best suit the need. In fact I fully expect that I'm waaay too fortunate and that my luck may have run out at this (very high turnover) job.

I suspect that I'll get my answer soon - maybe tomorrow. I'll be needing more of the CPF's, high quality, psychology, philosophy, and great comradery should the news be bad. Perhaps I'm misinterpreting the tea leaves (just a gut feeling) and am over-reacting to curious events.

Regardless - I'll still have my family, friends, flashlights and the CPF. So I hope not to be posting much as that will mean the job's keeping me busy.
 

Ratso

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Joined
Jul 15, 2002
Messages
413
Location
Knoxville, TN
Re: They aren\'t just lights!

[ QUOTE ]
js said:Somtimes when I'm a bit down, I turn on one of my lights and shine it into the palm of my hand, and that happy brightness and intense light pouring out of the lens makes me feel just a bit richer and a lot better.


[/ QUOTE ]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mecry.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mecry.gif
 

nexro

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Aug 5, 2003
Messages
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Location
KL, Malaysia
Re: They aren\'t just lights!

Very well said /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
I am gonna send the link for this page for some of my non-flashaholic friends!
 

KevinL

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 10, 2004
Messages
5,866
Location
At World's End
Re: They aren\'t just lights!

Shining a 6P with 2xR123 and P91 into my hand now.....OW MY HAND!! OUCH!! Too much light!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twakfl.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Then even amidst all the bad, sometimes just THINKING about my next project is enough to put this ridiculous smile on my face.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grouphug.gif
 

Mutie

Enlightened
Joined
Dec 12, 2002
Messages
352
Location
Los Angeles
Re: They aren\'t just lights!

For me it's flat out survival. I'm legally blind and very, very night blind. Even walking into a darkened room from bright daylight I have to pull out my light to see.

Many years ago I discovered headlights from some caves we found out at Joshua Tree. Wearing a headlight even around the house at night soon became a habit. And since I generally had a light of some kind at night I did not know for years how night blind I was. Now I will not even consider going out at night without at least 2 lights. My VIP is my light of choice. I was on here a year and a half and did not succumb to buying any lights from here. But when I saw the VIP I had to have one. And it is by far the best light I've ever owned. And it is because of the VIP that my retro headlight project has become a feasible project.

I have to admit though that I get quite tired of the endless stupid miner comments and jokes I get wearing a headlight in public. So now I just poke them in the eye with my Wolverine like LED fingers. Just kidding. Telling them I'm night blind and would probably get killed without it tends to shut most of them up.

Mutie
 
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