I wandered into the dark after the end of a day of hiking and exploring. Away from lanterns and flashlights, I focused my attention upward; toward the stars. I had never noticed the magnificence of the night sky before this moment. The stars filled every corner of my vision and the thought of them filled me with wonder. How could an enormous ball of exploding gas, able to consume our entire planet, our existence, look small? I marveled at the sky and a sense of peacefulness washed over me. The nearer you are to nature, the more violent it looks. From far away, everything seems smaller and the beauty of the entire system takes over, leaving us with a sense of calm that can be achieved through no other means. I finally break from my trance as I hear the sound of my name being …show more content…
Every night before drifting off to sleep, I stare out my window, beyond the faint outlines of trees, beyond the unoccupied house across the street, beyond the hills, out at the city below. The multitude of lights seems to move as one magnificent ocean, spreading light far into the sky above, competing with the stars for attention. After searching and searching, I finally see them. Faint specks of light, barely surviving in the bright sky surrounding them. As a child, almost everyone, including me, had those little glow-in-the-dark stickers in the shapes of moons and stars stuck all over their bedrooms. As we grew older, the stickers fell off or we replaced the furniture that held them, but we have never forgotten the effect that these small, seemingly irrelevant glowing shapes, had on our sense of wonder and curiosity about the Universe encompassing us. Although now seeing actual stars in their full glory is a rare occurrence, due to the endless glowing of society around us, we can still appreciate what they give us, in hope and