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Eclipsed

April 11, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

Well, we bought some glasses – the real thing, mind you, with which to watch the full eclipse on Monday of this week. We sat outside with the funny little cardboard “glasses,” that had hoops for our ears and complied with the ISO-12312-2 international safety standard, of which even NASA would approve. Minimal as they were, we placed them up to our eyes. Then, we couldn’t see anything because with those glasses nothing else mattered – only the edging eclipse overhead, only the brilliant glow of a crescent sun, pulsating behind the dominant moon – one rarely thinks of the humble moon as being dominant. 

Just goes to show it could happen to anybody.

To be fair, we watched with fascination the creeping of the moon’s black shadow to conceal the sun with almost total success where we sat outside on cushions. The area around us greyed as though a thin blanket had been tossed over the park and street but never bringing the deep darkness such as this eclipse inflicted. Not like Niagara Falls where there was genuine and deep darkness and a full view of the sun entirely behind the moon, presenting its startling “Diamond ring” effect.

It is interesting that such a small distance between us, where we were and Niagara Falls, relative to the very big space between the moon and the sun should nevertheless make such a difference in the show itself. Ours was a clear sky yet, a very partial view of the grand event that was the sun entirely behind the moon, its fabulous corona’s blazing circle on full display. Ours seemed to move so quickly while the video show in Niagara felt as though it lasted long enough to thrill.

To think that we were a mere [just under] 200 kilometres from the best view of the eclipse in Niagara Falls but that tiny distance, compared to the vastness of space and the distance between the sun, the moon and us made such a difference in the view that we all had. We did not experience anything like full darkness nor the magnificence of the fiery corona overhead. 

I never thought of space as being measured in inches. Like remembering that time is a matter of minutes in contrast to how endless it is too. We think of ourselves as the inventors of time because before there was earth and before there was us, there was no need for time, no concern to measure our lives in what we have done and how much time it took us to do it. 

We miss the point of having time and distance, yearning instead for dominance over them. 

We yearn for dominance over everything we know but dominance demands cruelty because it is never given, so, it must be taken. There is an excellent website: World History Encyclopedia which offers a weekly newsletter that covers stories of people and events over thousands of years. These are well-researched and quite authoritative. Founded by German-born Jan van der Crabben [www.worldhistory.org] they recently made a video of him talking about creating the website, his motives and what it has taken to come as far as it has, as an excellent reference tool and a very interesting weekly read. During this interview, van der Crabben was asked who he admired most, and what individual in history had made the biggest impression on him. Before his answer came, I knew it and was disappointed.

Alexander the Great.

Alexander epitomizes mankind for his energy, brilliance, aggressiveness, manipulativeness, and insatiable determination to conquer for the bare sake of conquest, mindless to the toll that inflicts on those being overrun. Tremendous statues thousands of years old portray him as the incredible master of military supremacy. Mr. van der Crabben did admit that others feel Alexander was a ruthless, murderous, [he did not say] mindlessly savage invader of other lands. The statues show Alexander as a muscular youth, his face frozen in ferocity, on his magnificent rearing horse ready to do its master’s bidding.

It is a true mystery how we spend our tiny minutes. There are not nearly enough of them in any one lifetime to waste. Yet, we spend so many of them fighting and causing fear, in being afraid. We forget for much of our tiny time here that we have one particular job and that is to do right and kindly by each other. This is not a stand built on religion or a grand philosophy I might not be able to sell you but on simple practicality and common sense.

If we the system, the voters, the individuals understand in a fundamental place in our psyches that it is a more efficient way to run our societies, more economical, cleaner air – all that – to see to it that everyone is okay, that everyone should live with enough – or even better – for a society that is healthy.

Here is not communism, no overbearing government – there will always be people who have more than others because they could see how but not because they oppressed and stole from others.

Greed is not an excuse for the troubles we see.

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