The Solar Eclipse of 2017

Today, we experienced a solar eclipse. Here in the United States, many were able to see a total eclipse. The last time the United States experienced a total solar eclipse was in 1979. Unfortunately, for me, the moon only covered approximately 70% of the sun. 

I am not a person who looks for these sorts of things. There are people who stay up late watching for meteor showers and the like. It does not excite me. I love looking at the stars on a clear night, but I am not going out of my way to see them. 

I learned a few things because of this eclipse. First, 30% of the sun still exposed does not make it dark. In fact, at 1:29 pm during our peak moments, it looked like 1:29 pm on any given sunny day. I thought it would at least look like early evening.  I also learned that there are cities called Madras, Oregon and Carbondale, Illinois. I am sure they are great places, but I never heard of them until The Weather Channel showed their view of the eclipse on television.

People really get excited about these things. I witnessed people standing on buildings to get a good view. I saw stadiums full of people who gathered just for the moment. It does not matter to people that the totality of the eclipse lasted just over two minutes in duration. People were excited. Sometimes, I wonder why I am not as enthusiastic about such things as others are.  Not much really excites me.

I heard many warnings that we should not look at the sun with only our eyes. I hope parents teach their children not to do this even when there is no eclipse. Of course, my parents told me this from time to time, but being a stubborn boy, I would do it just to see how long I could endure it. It was never long. It is probably a good reason that I have worn glasses for most of my life.

I did manage to watch the eclipse for about 30 seconds with the special glasses that someone brought to work. It actually was cool to see. Not really enough of a reason to throw a party unless you just want a party.

Different people like to see different things. Many, like me, love to watch sunsets on the beach. Some like to see historical monuments, beautiful paintings, or maybe just a good menu from which to order dinner.

I wish we would see the more important thing. I wish we would see the faults in our own lives and try to fix them rather than see the fault in everyone else. I wish we would see the good in people and not the bad. I wish we would see everyone as human beings rather than the subgroups into which we have divided ourselves. I wish we would spend more time seeing our children and grandchildren growing up rather than spending so much time working or thinking only of ourselves.

Nature has many wonderful things to experience. I would love to see the Aurora Borealis, The Grand Canyon, the Great Barrier Reef or The Daintree Rainforest. However, with all of the divisiveness that I see in this world. However, I would rather see peace and unity than all of the other things.