Remember the prevalent theory/running joke/parenting mistake that Indian parents supposedly make?
When their super smart kid takes home a test score of 98/100, the first question asked is,"How did you miss those two marks?"
Well a supposedly enlightened doofus like me used to think that was unfair, because the effort put in for a perfect 100 or two marks short of that is usually the same and besides, what's in a few percentage points?
Well, I had my comeuppance today! The difference between 100% and 99.2% is still aplenty, my friends, still aplenty.
We had an event of historic(astronomical?) proportions occur in Oregon today.We had a total solar eclipse touch the shores of the USA at Depoe Bay,Oregon at 9.04 a.m today and track a path through the country in the next few hours.
The eclipse was partial here in our hometown and we had the option of travelling south about sixty miles to hit totality. The eclipse mania picked up in the last six months and since we had plans to have my in laws over, I (notice the pronoun) had a hankering to maybe book a house at the coast and do the eclipse watching.
And then the sane adult member of the family started sowing doubt in my mind-getting a vacation rental would be tough, even if one were available, it would be too expensive, getting there would be a nightmare what with traffic and all, the return journey would be torture....all this for two minutes of totality.
My determination weakened and I abandoned the idea and decided to settle for just a drive south in the morning, park where convenient and watch the sun disappear, and drive back home plan.
And then the nightmare scenarios whipped up by the news channels dragged me down.There was advice on stocking up because stores would run out of supplies, gas would be scarce to come by, people with plans similar to mine would clog up roads, there would be accidents galore, and on and on.
Finally we decided to settle down at home and watch the darn thing from our back yard.
Procuring glasses became another nightmare as stores started running out of them. We managed to snag six and were ready fresh and bright today at 9.00 as the event unfolded.
And boy was it amazing! We had the TV on and so knew when to look up as the moon started eating away at the sun and as darkness gradually descended on us...it took a good hour and twenty minutes to hit that 99.2% and it was thrilling to see the sun look like the moon but black in color and in a blazing blue sky.The temperature dropped and darkness seemed to envelop us, there was nary a bird in the sky, no animals were moving about, pets went silent.
But but but, looking at the totality of the eclipse on TV showed us how wanting anything less than 100% is when it comes to an eclipse. We hit a point where a wee bit more would have completely blotted out the sun and we waited for a wee bit more of the sun to disappear, but then it promptly started reappearing on the other side of the shadow!The sun didn't completely disappear and so it didn't get completely dark, there was no shiver of awareness of how we are in thrall of the nature around us and how infinitesimally small we are in the greater scheme of the universe.All of which is supposed to happen in two minutes!
And then the mighty sun untethered itself off the moon and in another hour and twenty minutes was back at its fiery glory.
As thrilling as our experience was, I felt a bit letdown.What fun to partake in a celestial event of such huge proportions which happens this close to home and which is not expected to be repeated until 2045.
I was actually complaining to my husband about how we had missed a chance of a life time and how we might not be around 28 more years to see it one more time. I had library duty today and went off to the library slightly grouchy about this missed chance and my mind went around and around analyzing what had just happened.
And then it hit me!The next time a total eclipse occurs this close to home, meaning Oregon was in 2045.But total solar eclipses are not that uncommon if you disregard the location.The next one goes through South America less than two years from now, followed by a few more in the next ten years.
A lightning bolt struck me, nature teaching us a lesson-we are a global community-nature doesn't see us as Americans or Europeans or Indians or Chinese.The sun shines on us all and disappears on us all.If our outlook is global, then the world is all one. Nature doesn't take sides or discriminate-it treats us all fairly. We discriminate among ourselves and treat each other unfairly and bring ourselves and nature along with us to our knees.
So if you want to watch a total solar eclipse, off to South America in 2019.
And what if your kids don't score 100% on a test?There's always another test to prove themselves-after all it is the effort that matters. I'm back to square one on that one!!
When their super smart kid takes home a test score of 98/100, the first question asked is,"How did you miss those two marks?"
Well a supposedly enlightened doofus like me used to think that was unfair, because the effort put in for a perfect 100 or two marks short of that is usually the same and besides, what's in a few percentage points?
Well, I had my comeuppance today! The difference between 100% and 99.2% is still aplenty, my friends, still aplenty.
We had an event of historic(astronomical?) proportions occur in Oregon today.We had a total solar eclipse touch the shores of the USA at Depoe Bay,Oregon at 9.04 a.m today and track a path through the country in the next few hours.
The eclipse was partial here in our hometown and we had the option of travelling south about sixty miles to hit totality. The eclipse mania picked up in the last six months and since we had plans to have my in laws over, I (notice the pronoun) had a hankering to maybe book a house at the coast and do the eclipse watching.
And then the sane adult member of the family started sowing doubt in my mind-getting a vacation rental would be tough, even if one were available, it would be too expensive, getting there would be a nightmare what with traffic and all, the return journey would be torture....all this for two minutes of totality.
My determination weakened and I abandoned the idea and decided to settle for just a drive south in the morning, park where convenient and watch the sun disappear, and drive back home plan.
And then the nightmare scenarios whipped up by the news channels dragged me down.There was advice on stocking up because stores would run out of supplies, gas would be scarce to come by, people with plans similar to mine would clog up roads, there would be accidents galore, and on and on.
Finally we decided to settle down at home and watch the darn thing from our back yard.
Procuring glasses became another nightmare as stores started running out of them. We managed to snag six and were ready fresh and bright today at 9.00 as the event unfolded.
And boy was it amazing! We had the TV on and so knew when to look up as the moon started eating away at the sun and as darkness gradually descended on us...it took a good hour and twenty minutes to hit that 99.2% and it was thrilling to see the sun look like the moon but black in color and in a blazing blue sky.The temperature dropped and darkness seemed to envelop us, there was nary a bird in the sky, no animals were moving about, pets went silent.
But but but, looking at the totality of the eclipse on TV showed us how wanting anything less than 100% is when it comes to an eclipse. We hit a point where a wee bit more would have completely blotted out the sun and we waited for a wee bit more of the sun to disappear, but then it promptly started reappearing on the other side of the shadow!The sun didn't completely disappear and so it didn't get completely dark, there was no shiver of awareness of how we are in thrall of the nature around us and how infinitesimally small we are in the greater scheme of the universe.All of which is supposed to happen in two minutes!
And then the mighty sun untethered itself off the moon and in another hour and twenty minutes was back at its fiery glory.
As thrilling as our experience was, I felt a bit letdown.What fun to partake in a celestial event of such huge proportions which happens this close to home and which is not expected to be repeated until 2045.
I was actually complaining to my husband about how we had missed a chance of a life time and how we might not be around 28 more years to see it one more time. I had library duty today and went off to the library slightly grouchy about this missed chance and my mind went around and around analyzing what had just happened.
And then it hit me!The next time a total eclipse occurs this close to home, meaning Oregon was in 2045.But total solar eclipses are not that uncommon if you disregard the location.The next one goes through South America less than two years from now, followed by a few more in the next ten years.
A lightning bolt struck me, nature teaching us a lesson-we are a global community-nature doesn't see us as Americans or Europeans or Indians or Chinese.The sun shines on us all and disappears on us all.If our outlook is global, then the world is all one. Nature doesn't take sides or discriminate-it treats us all fairly. We discriminate among ourselves and treat each other unfairly and bring ourselves and nature along with us to our knees.
So if you want to watch a total solar eclipse, off to South America in 2019.
And what if your kids don't score 100% on a test?There's always another test to prove themselves-after all it is the effort that matters. I'm back to square one on that one!!
Superbly thought and written.....and to think that back home in India we are not supposed to even go out during solar eclipse....
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