The steamer toiled along slowly on the edge of a black and incomprehensible frenzy…. We were cut off from comprehension of our surroundings; we glided past like phantoms, wondering and secretly appalled, as sane men would be before an enthusiastic outbreak in a madhouse. We could not understand because we were too far and could not remember, because we were traveling in the night of first ages, of those ages that are gone, leaving hardly a sign — and no memories.

The earth seemed unearthly. We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there—there you could look at a thing monstrous and free. It was unearthly, and the men were—No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it —this suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity — like yours — the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that there was in your just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it which you — you so remote from the night of the first ages — could comprehend.

From “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad

It has passed one hundred and twelve years since Joseph Conrad wrote the white man’s impression of Africa’s inhabitants:  “It was unearthly, and the men were –No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it – this suspicion of their not being inhuman.” The white man has yet to assimilate in his mind—and his heart—that someone with a different color, different eyes, different hair … is as human as he is.  This is the terrible tragedy of Ferguson–fear of the inhuman, of the unknown.

The picture shows this season’s first accumulation of snow in Chicago area. It evokes peace and our hope for a better and kinder world.