This Beginning's End

Eleven twenty-eight at night, central time, on January thirty-first, two-thousand and twelve.  There's clearly a reason we abbreviate dates and times (and I, far too lax in grammatical form at present, am sure I've botched the full form in one way or another).  Yet, saying it slow - typing it even slower on my phone - has a certain appeal. There is an almost poetic calming of the mimd that occurs when we pause to fully consider the date and time, without attaching to them any anxiety or preconceived notions based on our daily tasks and goals. Today simply becomes a day, in a year, in a long string of years, that has more to do with our short blip of existence in the vast universe than anything else.

Yes, I am waxing philosophical. And yes, precursor to reading that long-hand date aloud I imagined hearing "Captain's log, stardate..." in Patrick Stewart's velvety voice. Say what you will, but the truth is, its good for the soul to remember just how infinitely expansive the universe is, how incredibliy small we seem, yet how inseparably linked we are.

So, now marks the end of this month's voyage here on earth. Humankind continues to amaze and perplex itself. Much of the rest of the universe continues to generally ignore us - or speak to us in ways we choose to ignore right back. Earth soldiers on, despite our heavy weight. Flora and fauna persevere. And in galaxies, far beyond our scope of reality, stars are born...then die.

Happy February.