Double~take | star gazing

Ignorance could be deadly

T

his week saw the Harvest Moon - apparently so named because it is the last full moon before the autumnal equinox or something. We saw it as we drove east to get ice cream at the Beaches [an area of Toronto, Canada], and it was huge and yellow and low, and very much in danger of being confused with all the lights and signs along the street. Optical illusion or not, it still looked gorgeous.

 

I’ve done a fair amount of star gazing this year, which is unusual because in Toronto most of the stars are hazed out by light pollution. Once a while ago, someone pointed out the Big Dipper to a couple of us who were together. Except that it wasn’t the Big Dipper. I strained my eyes to see it where it was pointed out, but after a while, I realized that it wasn’t there. We were looking west, not north. I turned to the right, and BOOM, there it was, large as life.

In ancient times this kind of mistake could easily cost you your life - navigating by the stars over land or sea you need to know what you’re looking for. If you were so unfamiliar with the map that you couldn’t distinguish the main features, then any journey you attempted would be doomed to failure. And staying put would mean you’d never get where you wanted to be.

Today we don’t need the stars to navigate - we have street directories and GPS. To navigate life we have the bible, which so many people never bother to read. Sometimes it pays to listen to Sunday School songs: “Read your bible, pray everyday and you’ll grow, grow, grow…” (Sometimes not - the “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho” one really needs to go, but otherwise…)

Your word is a lamp to guide me and a light for my path.  Psalm 119:105

Double~take appears every Saturday on theRubicon. Find past Double~take posts and a bio of Stephanie Hung here.

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