The eclipse of the sun
Today we admired the partial eclipse of the sun. Around these quarters of the globe it was about 50%. Had we travelled to the northernmost parts of the country, it would've been closer to 80%. But even as only halfway there it was rather impressive. I get very excited about things like this. I don't really know or understand much about astronomy, but it intrigues me. Somehow and eclipse of the sun serves as a reminder that there are much bigger powers at work than our little society on this globe.
I remember the last total eclipse of the sun. My mother was driving me and my friend home from school. It was a cloudy day, so we couldn't actually see the eclipse, but we stopped the car on the roadside in the middle of this vast open scenery of grain fields and horse pastures and watched as everything became dark. I remember how eerie it was. The darkness wasn't like the night, it was unreal. The scariest thing was that the nature went completely quiet. The birds stopped singing and the horses stood still on their pastures. It was as if the whole world became still for a moment. As soon as the shadow over the sun moved and the first rays burst on the sky, the eerie silence broke and as the sun revealed itself little by little everything returned back to normal.
I was nine years old then and I think I will always remember it. I guess it is set in all living beings to fear for the day when sun goes dark. In some subconcious level we react in the same way as birds and horses. We know the darkness and silence lasts only moments, but even with this knowledge we can't help but to react as if we weren't entirely sure that the light will return. I find that really humbling and a reminder that we human beings are only a small part of the universe.
I remember the last total eclipse of the sun. My mother was driving me and my friend home from school. It was a cloudy day, so we couldn't actually see the eclipse, but we stopped the car on the roadside in the middle of this vast open scenery of grain fields and horse pastures and watched as everything became dark. I remember how eerie it was. The darkness wasn't like the night, it was unreal. The scariest thing was that the nature went completely quiet. The birds stopped singing and the horses stood still on their pastures. It was as if the whole world became still for a moment. As soon as the shadow over the sun moved and the first rays burst on the sky, the eerie silence broke and as the sun revealed itself little by little everything returned back to normal.
I was nine years old then and I think I will always remember it. I guess it is set in all living beings to fear for the day when sun goes dark. In some subconcious level we react in the same way as birds and horses. We know the darkness and silence lasts only moments, but even with this knowledge we can't help but to react as if we weren't entirely sure that the light will return. I find that really humbling and a reminder that we human beings are only a small part of the universe.