A Firefly Life

By Lydia Fairchok

Is there anything in the Midwest quite so beautiful as fireflies on a summer evening? When I see them sparkling by the hundreds over my pasture or making constellations across a soybean field, I cannot help but pause and appreciate the gift of this magnificent display. Sometimes I stop my car and roll down the window to better enjoy the sight before continuing on my way.

Fireflies produce light to ward off predators and communicate amongst each other throughout their brief adult lives. This unique ability is the result of a chemical reaction between oxygen, calcium, enzymes, and an organic compound called luciferin in their abdomens. If you have ever driven down a country road at twilight, you have likely noticed that the chemical reaction continues even after the firefly has a fatal encounter with your windshield. What was once an insect is suddenly a smear on the glass — but the flicker of light remains until the luciferin is spent.

I can’t say that I envy the firefly’s abrupt death, but I am impressed by its ability to produce an afterglow: fireflies are so full of the ingredients for light that a continuing glow is their natural outcome. It makes me wonder if my life will be like a firefly. Will my family, friends, and students experience light from the way I lived? Am I so full of the right things that I cannot help but leave a lasting impact? Fortunately, we don’t have to hit a windshield to leave an afterglow. Teaching is an ongoing opportunity to shine into the lives of your students because it allows us the chance to influence how someone sees themselves, their horses, and their problems. Riders develop confidence and self-esteem by having someone express belief in their abilities and invest in their well-being. They are shaped by how we behave towards horses and other humans, how we meet challenges, and how we manage our own time and resources. When we change a person’s perspective on these things, we change their perspective on life — which means the potential for ripple effects are endless.

All ripples start with qualities that people have been appreciating in one another for as long as civilization has existed. As early as 48 AD, pastoral teachers have recorded love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control as ideal character traits. Compare this to an excerpt from a list of positive character elements in a 2021 public school curriculum: honesty, integrity, respect, loyalty, self-control, fairness, kindness, compassion, patience, and generosity. Despite almost two thousand years of separation, these lists really aren’t so different—and they all contribute to excellent horsemanship in their own way. By demonstrating each of these qualities to our students, we can have far-reaching effects on how they interact with humans and horses alike.

In order to impart positive things to our students, we must already possess them within ourselves. If you’re not sure which way your character is trending, examine how you treat the people closest to you. Our families are usually the first to suffer from our faults, and they are often the most qualified to speak truth into our lives. Next check your media, your social circle, your habits, and how you use your down time. Are these external factors contributing to your internal wholeness, or are you inadvertently allowing negative influences to take root? Much like we bring our students and horses back to basics in order to build advanced skills, all character development should start with the groundwork of a long, hard look at ourselves. This is how we create and maintain the inner components for a light-giving life.

Fireflies don’t choose whether or not to be full of the ingredients for light, but we do. We don’t have to wonder whether or not we will make an impact – we can ensure it. A life rightly lived never goes unnoticed. Leaving an afterglow is the conscious outcome of filling ourselves with good character and exhibiting it on a daily basis. It means taking time to care deeply about our students and horses, treating everyone with respect, and never wavering from doing the right thing. It means staying the course even when the windshield of life hits us harder than we ever thought possible. Living a firefly life certainly isn’t easy, but when you see the beauty of a thousand luminescent flashes over a summer soybean field, keep your own glow going and remember that it is worth it.

About the author: Lydia Fairchok is certified in Recreational Riding Level 1, and lives and teaches with her three horses in Central Indiana. Lydia segued from a full time instruction career to the field of public safety in 2014 and continues to teach a small number of students while working as a police officer and 9-1-1 dispatcher. Lydia and Orion. Photo by Hope Anne Photography “ Teaching is an ongoing opportunity to shine into the lives of your students because it allows us the chance to influence how someone sees themselves, their horses, and their problems. ”

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