January 20, 2011

It captivates me as to the profound impact that stars played, and continue to play, in human civilizations. Ancient empires have risen and fallen based on the position of stars (No exaggeration. Astrology was created to predict the fate of princes and kingdoms). On the first day of creation, “God created the heavens (stars) and the earth.”  The three wise men followed the star that led them to the manger where Jesus lay. The American flag has fifty stars on it, with each star representing a state. Israel’s flag has one star, China’s flag has five, Australia’s flag has six, and New Zealand’s flag has four. Most of the Islamic countries have cresset moons on their flags. Almost half of the flags in the world display astronomical symbols, a reflection of the importance of the universe around our small, pale-blue planet named Earth, which floats like a mote of dust in the morning sky through space. I feel that nations, along with the people in the nations, wish to form a connection with the cosmos. This connection is even seen though the language that we speak. Many common words present in our vocabulary are relevant to the cosmos.  Two words of particular come to my mind at the moment. The word “disaster” for instance, is a Greek word which means “dead star.” The word “influenza,” or flu, is the Italian word for “influence”, in relationship to the stars.  These words are proof of our need to connect with the stars. It turns out that we are already connected, due to the fact we are made from recycled particles from blown-up stars. It is no doubt ironic, to say the least.