When I was in an 8th grade Civics class, learning about the American system of government, I was struck by the dictum “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
Since a friend of mine, recently, told me a current high school student asked him why we celebrate on the 4th of July, I assume Civics classes may no longer be part of the national curriculum.
If true, I see that to be a shame, especially since the past year’s onslaught of the Covid virus has brought about an even more universal meaning to that dictum and has even brought about a renewed clash as to the meaning of liberty.
To mask or not to mask? To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? To live or to die?
These are the options we’ve been facing, with the difference from the past being communication has become more universally widespread than it was during previous epidemics and has, therefore, codified more universal reactions to the challenging questions with which we’ve been confronted.
And, that’s why I am so struck by this photo of the recent partial eclipse!
How we face the concept of liberty speaks to our former misunderstanding of the relationship between the Earth and Moon.
Let me explain…
While it was always obvious to humanity that the Sun supplied the energy that made our planet thrive, our ancestors initially thought that, when the Moon got in between the Earth and Sun, whether partially or totally, it was a dark omen that the reception of this life energy might be cut off.
It took scientific exploration to bring about the rational understanding of these total or partial eclipses as being cosmic wonders rather than omens of misfortune or doom.
And, we’re still in the learning process.
What we have come to learn is that the Moon acts as a gigantic planetary stabilizer that, in effect, keeps the Earth from “toppling over.”
If the Earth were “upright” and not tilted at the current angle of just over 23° and 27´to the line of its path around the Sun, there would be no seasonal weather changes and parts of our planet would be completely uninhabitable.
It’s only because this obliquity has been maintained that the planet’s rate of spin has been slowed enough to allow life to develop and to keep the Earth’s weather…which averages 58°F or 14.5°C…in a band that allows for 98% of its water to be in a liquid state and, therefore, able to sustain life.
What’s more, we’ve learned the Moon, initially, used its gravity to plow the tectonic plates of our planet’s surface, so essential minerals could be released and distributed for the life-development process to continue.
Bottom line, without the Moon, there would have been no DNA…no us.
However, all that knowledge has still not provided us with a plausible explanation of how the Moon got there in the first place! Each supposition or theory has been disproven.
Yet, there are, now, those who wish to change the Earth’s course and/or the Moon’s declension to “better” fit in with changes humanity has or may wish to make on Earth; this, rather than making changes to keep humanity more compatible with our relationship to the Earth and the Moon, not to mention their relationship with each other.
Humans have been given the liberty of Free Will to go with or against the flow. But each of us has to participate in the connected decision as to whether we wish to work in concert with the long-term miracle of Creation or with the short-term, more selfish decisions based on a misunderstanding of how to act within the freedoms Creation affords us.
Think of it this way… If time since Creation were based on a 24-hour clock, it has taken 23 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds and 995/1000th of a second to bring us to the Industrial Revolution. That’s left merely 5/1000th of a second of this metaphorical day to cause what many term has been the raping of this planet.
Given the damage to the Earth that is continuing to occur in this remaining 5/1000th of a second, my vote is to keep Lady Liberty’s torch shining through enough positive, lengthy and universally beneficial events to cause a reconstruction of, rather than an end to, this “day” and, perhaps even lead to the creation of a brand new day.
What are your thoughts?
Photo credit: Anthony Quintano
Earth Existence as a 24-hour day
from Tom Chatfield
Scientific information from
Who Built the Moon? by
Christopher Knight &
Alan Butler