29 December 2008

Starry Starry Night

Last night after watching the news (and I don't know why I continue to do that) I took the dogs out for their nightly walkabout. Since I wasn't doing anything important whilst I was standing there, I just stopped and looked up at the sky and had one of those "aha" moments.

2008 has been one of the bumpiest, most uncomfortable and frightening years that I can remember. It seems that there is war or conflict almost everywhere --most notably Iraq, Afghanistan,Pakistan, Africa, India, Southeast Asia in general and now Israel and Palestine. (why is conflict so addictive??)

It seems that our country is more divided than ever and what used to be political jousting is now hate speech. Political, social and religious differences have taken on epic proportions. Civil discourse is almost impossible. Hell, civility itself is almost unachievable! Common sense and good manners are obsolete.


The global economic meltdown has created a climate of fear that I cannot remember in my lifetime; and I'm not sure we've seen the end of it. Just like everyone else, I'm worried. I worry about my savings, my health, my family and friends. I worry about what will become of all of us.


Then I go out and look at the night sky, in fact I do this every night but last night was different. There was no moon, just a blanket of white spots covering me -covering all of us. And it's been there for eons and it will continue to be there for eons. Regardless of what happens on this little speck which we the 'current occupants' appear to have taken ownership.

(I had to smile and then laugh a little bit of self important we are.) Out there on one of those little white specks, there may be another planet suffering the exact same plight in which we find ourselves. They too maybe scurrying around trying to find answers.


Just how important are we in the greater scheme of things ? Evolution. Great cataclysms. Extinction.
We are just a speck on a speck lost among millions of other specks.

At what point, I wonder, did we decide that we were the center of the universe? And even on this particular speck, when did the United States of America decide that we were the most important ?



If you have chance tonight or tomorrow night, go out and stand in the cold night air and look above you into the blackness and ponder those tiny points of light which are illumine the entire sky.
...it left me with an enormous sense of peace.
So, for 2009 I wish for Peace.

(many of the above photos came from:

3 comments:

A.Fanny said...

Thanks for the photos - they impart your idea. Because it's too damn COLD to go out there! I guess that's what doggies are for - they get you to go out, get some exercise and and ponder the lessons of the night sky! Very good stuff.

moi said...

Nicely said.

Alas, the lust for power still nestles in the reptilian layer of our Cro Magnon brain. We have yet, as a species, to evolve beyond it.

So until we do – or until we at least start looking at politics in a new way – I guess I will just have to la, la, la, la, la myself with the fact that in the greater scheme of things, the only thing that matters is the persistence of matter, time, and space. And pretty, blingy stars.

Wicked Thistle said...

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! Or, as my drunk uncle would say, "Wunnerful." Thanks for the perspective--I certainly needed it. Max is expressing his support by pawing at the keyboard. I'm off to check the night sky now!

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