It has been a very frustrating month or so, with the World once again going absolutely bat shit crazy. It is hard to fathom the extreme incompetence of the US political community, moreso at the top than anywhere else. Saying one thing and needing it walked back, saying nothing but the same phrase and same words mixed slightly around…and that is just in the US. Obviously there is a war going on that still has yet to seriously impact the world; just wait for the food shortages coming, on top of the massively inflated prices. Let me clarify my ‘political position’ by admitting I did not vote for either of the two recent Presidents, I chose a different candidate as I could not in good conscience place my vote with either.
I do not like feeling this way and although I continue to make provisions for continuing to have food and such in preparation for what seems to be coming, I will continue on here with more Positivity. Such Positivity is more needed now than any time in the last 5 and more years, unfortunately.
For the last few decades, I have taken to looking at a wider view of, if I may, Life, the Universe and Everything when it seems the feces will impact with the air circulation unit. Living in Alaska for a good part of that time, it was easy to take a hike in nature away from ‘civilization’ and ease my soul with calm and beauty, or to enjoy standing in a summer’s downpour or enduring the cold as long as I could while witnessing the Northern Lights/Aurora Borealis.
Just a few days ago, I was able to greatly separate my world worries by the news of an astounding discovery by the Hubble Space Telescope: The single most distant star ever seen to date! The star’s technical designation is WHL0137-LS, and it has been named Earendel. Earendel is quite a fascinating name, too; In Old English, Earendel translate to "the morning star" or "the dawn." The first article I read on this discovery also revealed that the discoverer, being a JRR Tolkien fan named it after one of the elves in the book ‘The Silmarillion’. Eärendil is a half-elven character who travels the seas carrying a jewel, a "Silmaril," called, not surprisingly, the morning star. Earendil lies 12.9 billion light-years from Earth!
Here he is:
Not easy to see, by any stretch. So much is going on Out There in the Universe that we may never know or comprehend, and that somehow comforts me when seen against what goes on on this, relatively, insignificant globe. We have so much of simply our own Solar System that affects our planet, from solar winds off of the Sun, which are, in turn, affected by the cycle of sunspots, to the Moon affecting the tides, to the interior of the Earth affecting the ocean currents that we lose sight as to just how little humans affect the Earth. These all are reasons why there has been changing climates for the entirety of the Earth’s history. Certainly, it can be affected by a nuclear winter, and I am certain there are other ways we can make the environments better, and we should.
At any rate, I am still kinda reveling in this new discovery, and feeling a bit better and calmer about a lot, thankfully.
We must all keep on moving, keep on doing our best to improve whatever we can, because we can witness today how bad things can get on a worldwide scale. Why not help to ease what we can for whomever we can? It may not change much, but that is no reason not to try. There is much we cannot do, but there is still much that we can. After all, no matter what goes on Out There in the Wider World, no matter what goes on Out There in the Solar System, no mater what goes on Out There in the galaxy and Universe, why should we not do what we can to male In Here as good a place as we can?
