The Distinct Border

There’s crazy drama around me. It’s like witnessing two middle schoolers fighting.

Because of the risk of sounding holier-than-thou, I don’t want to get into it. It’s just a sentence to remember as you read the rest of this. Instead, I will talk about my shenanigans as I stroll on my house’s roof, looking at the sky above me.

There was this one evening when the moonrise followed the setting sun almost as if the dance was choreographed – the night of the full moon and a few days before and after, the moon rises just as the sun sets. It’s one of my favorite things about the Sun-Moon-Earth system. It took me some time to notice the moonrise that night, of course – the moon was blocked by buildings for the better part of my walk that evening.

But when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie…

That’s when you’re reminded that there’s so darn much that makes life interesting, catches and holds your attention.

The visual is something along these lines: I was facing southeast. The full moon sat just above a building; it looked as if there were a line of night sky separating the glowing orb from the mundane building I saw daily. And having just started to delve into an astronomy course, I was looking at it with a new set of eyes. The spots, the beauty, the mystery…the naturalness of it. The moon, a part of nature, the jewel of the night sky, the object of generations of poetry, and a symbol of permanence…

…and the building below it, deeply rooted to keep its residents safe, but at a cost. Land robbed by humans from nature, legal battles won for the land that was once a farmer’s, housing families that would disappear in maybe a hundred years. And the bright, uncaring moon and stars above the tableau.

I got the distinct feeling that I was watching a cartoon and live-action side-by-side. Transient beings canopied by permanent fixtures. Apathetic beings basking in the glow of what the Universe serves to us on a silver platter – and taking it all for granted. Adults forced to witness the battles of middle schoolers. There was something poetic about it.

 I don’t make a secret of my feelings; I do wish I could fly away from it all. Stay surrounded by the Universe in some way, no humanly barriers. I gaze at the night sky with a sense of longing. Longing to see the stars, and if I’m lucky, some deep-sky objects. Longing to throw myself so deep into its secrets that I don’t have to worry about middle school fights.

That border felt like a border between where I am and where I want to be. A border I so wish to cross.