In outer space the Earth appears to be round. The companies that make globes make them round. However, sitting here and looking out of the window, I see my lawn has stationary waves in it. Like it was rolling at one time and suddenly stopped, and now here it is, a rolling lawn.
Being right on it obviously changes our perspective. The landscape of a dog looks different to a flea. I imagine that a flea seeing a dog in space… OK, never mind. The thing is, being very close to something truly affects our interaction with it.
The Mars rover, going about snapping photos, can hardly be the same as a person standing there, feeling everything, hearing the silence, tasting the grit in the air or smelling the foul breath from that invisible creature right behind them.
How then can we possibly comprehend the devastating, long-term effects of leaving our footprints on the lunar surface? What have we disrupted, how have we inadvertently altered history? Are we the bull in the China shop?
Picture this as a
cautionary tale. This is exactly what
can happen when you sit down to write but haven’t a clue as to what to write
about. Thoughts break away from their
leash, whimsy tugs at your shoelaces and some morons in Russia send a dog into
space. It’s history people – look it up.
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