One of my favorite childhood games was chasing shadows. In the evening sun, I would hold hands with my grandfather, watching as our shadows danced, sometimes in front and sometimes behind us. The shadows would shrink into a tiny curled-up ball at our feet, and then stretch out into long arms and legs, turning us into giant figures. As I ran, my shadow ran alongside me, and when I raised my arms and waved, it transformed into graceful cranes. My grandfather would shape his hand into a heart, a flying bird, or a barking dog, and I marveled at the magic of shadows. He said, "Wherever there is light, there are shadows, and shadows are the most obedient."

In my young heart, shadows were beautiful, listening to me and filled with goodwill. It wasn't until I came across a historical photo during an elective course that my perception of shadows changed. In the picture, a German officer was raising his right hand in a Nazi salute, and his long shadow extended beneath him. Surrounding him were thousands of people, cheering, adoring, and worshiping under the spell of the shadow's power. People were ecstatic, losing their rationality, and only knew how to cheer along with the crowd. Men and women flocked to support the army's ruthless killings, singing praises to their belief. In their eyes shone cruelty, hunger, and extreme joy, but no one knew that beneath the mighty shadow, their euphoric shells were hollow.

Guided by my high school teacher, we delved into that part of history. In the process of understanding World War II, what surprised me the most was not the atrocities committed by the Nazis, but the German women known as the "Death Angels." During the entire Second World War, around 500,000 German women provided various support services to Nazi Germany's war effort, most notably serving as concentration camp guards. They completely lost their gentle and compassionate nature as women, resorting to beating, whipping, setting dogs on people, and forcing them to shoot each other. They employed various brutal methods to treat innocent Jews, exhibiting the same ferocity and guilt as Nazi officers. I couldn't comprehend why so many people could erase their humanity, unleash so much malice, and turn slaughter into a collective frenzy until I read "Resisting the Banality of Evil," and I thought of shadows.

It seems to me that darkness hides beneath shadows. When Nazi officers smiled while gunning down desperate Jews, when Japanese soldiers played their heinous killing games in Nanjing, and when Hutu extremists watched piles of corpses with satisfaction, few people were aware that this was "foolish action" and "blind conformity." These are shadows, shadows that follow orders, shadows that are the most obedient and blindly follow, shadows devoid of critical thinking and values, leading to collective guilt and bringing calamity upon humanity.

During my further exploration of shadow, the movie "Life is Beautiful" moved me deeply, bringing tears and laughter. The director did not overly depict the cruelty of war but portrayed a different kind of beauty amid the disaster—the beauty of humanity and the pursuit of light. The smoke of war might hide the dawn temporarily, but it can't cover a shining heart. In the film, the actor was not only a devoted husband but also an incredibly great father. To protect his child from harm, the actor deceives him into believing they were merely playing a game. His search for his wife, encouragement to his child, and endurance of hardship gripped my heart tightly. He even risked his life just for a simple meal for his child as well as for his wife to hear music.

To me, that scenario reflects the "light" that one seeks no matter how arduous the situation, the light of justice, the light of love, the light one chase under the dominion of evil shadows. The faint rays illuminate life, serving as a powerful tool to overcome all adversity, which is the essence of life's meaning for me.

So, beneath the shadow, there is also light—sober light, thoughtful light, and loving light. The banality of evil under the shadow can only be overcome through clear thinking, and the cold cruelty beneath the shadow can only be dispelled by warm and bright light. "This is the sacrifice my father made for me, and this is the grace he bestowed upon me," says the grown-up child, and in tearful eyes, we also received grace. We pursue that beam of light, the light that enables us to think independently and continually seek truth, goodness, and beauty. We firmly believe in the power of good spirit, relentlessly pursuing the light of faith that could illuminate human history.